


Despair Quest: Final Monokuma IV

by SHSLAnonymous



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - No Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25092706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHSLAnonymous/pseuds/SHSLAnonymous
Summary: Despair King Monokuma pulls the class of Hope's Peak into an RPG Fantasy Realm. Everyone is forced into class roles that at first glance are entirely unsuited to their personalities and talents, because the great evil Despair King Monokuma obviously would need to make things as hard for them as possible.Join Naegi and Kirigiri as they attempt to defeat evils and gather allies to banish the Despair King once and for all. Other class members will appear in the story as they become relevant.
Relationships: Kirigiri Kyoko/Naegi Makoto
Comments: 84
Kudos: 95





	1. Chapter 1

"...gi-kun."

He could feel something prodding his shoulder. His head hurt.

"--Naegi-kun."

His eyes open blearily. The first thing he sees is lavender. It's dark. Surrounding him are walls made of uneven earth. Were they in a cave? Dim lighting was coming from torches on the walls. His eyes focus. Oh, it's...it's Kirigiri-san. 

"...Kirigiri...san...?" He blinks. Her lavender eyes are staring at him, a trace of concern in them. She is wearing a single braid, tied in place by a black hair ribbon on her left side, the rest of her hair loose and spilling towards him as she was leaning over him. His eyes follow her locks of hair, traveling down to.... 

...Wait. A...loincloth? He blinks again. He begins to choke, spluttering.

"K-Kirigiri-san...! Wh...what are you wearing?"

Kirigiri pulls back just slightly, inhaling sharply. She looks down at her own clothing, looking resigned. A tan top piece just barely covered her chest, held in place by straps running over her shoulders. A second thick, brown strap ran diagonally from her right shoulder to her left hip. Her navel was exposed, and a tan-colored loincloth covered her hips, frayed edges at the bottom, reaching the middle of her thigh. She still wore black gloves.

"This...isn't my first choice in attire," she closes her eyes, as if wincing in physical pain. She opens her eyes and looks back at Naegi, who was still ogling at her. "...And stop staring, Naegi-kun." There was a trace of amusement in her voice.

"S-sorry!" Naegi swallows dryly and turns his head, forcing himself to look away. In doing so, a piece of cloth blocks his vision. Oh, his hoodie. He had it on. He sits up slightly and reaches up to pull it off, when he pauses, staring at his hands. 

When did he wear fingerless gloves?

He looks down. He...wasn't wearing his hoodie. His hood came down to a piece of cloth that split at his collarbone, draped over his shoulders, flowing down his back. A cloak. He wore a light green shirt underneath. A belt kept a baggy pair of dark green leggings fastened to his waist, which loosely inserted into a pair of brown shin-high boots. A glint caught his eye. From his belt stuck out the handle of...of a knife. He had a knife on him?! Why?

He looks back to Kirigiri, who had stood back up. Oh...her legs were entirely bare. She wasn't wearing shoes either. 

Not wanting to spend too much time staring there either, he looks back up to her face, when something catches his eye. A rod was just visible in the darkness, behind Kirigiri's shoulder. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but was clearly visible from this angle. 

"What's that on your back, Kirigiri-san?"

Kirigiri looks behind her, and turns around to bring the object into his view, giving him a better look.

A large hand axe was sitting comfortably in a holster, connected to the strap over her shoulder. A crescent blade almost half a meter in length fanned out from the center rod, with a counter weight sprouting out the opposite end of the rod. The counter weight was shaped like a beveled diamond with three sharp corners, the longest piercing tip forming at the end opposing the blade. He couldn't stop his body from tensing slightly at how fearsome the weapon looked. It was...oddly familiar. Had he seen it before? 

Kirigiri turns back to face Naegi, tossing her hair behind her. 

"It's reminiscent of a weapon I've seen in one of those video games you often enjoy playing, Naegi-kun. I assume you may have a better idea what is going on."

Naegi gets up to his feet, slowly, as her words register in his mind.

"A...video game? Then this means...I'm dreaming...?" 

"If only."

Naegi blinks. A fuzzy image of them looking at a monitor before things went black sprouted in his mind, but faded quickly. What had happened? Were they  _in_ a video game? Was that even possible?

...Right, Kirigiri was asking him if there was anything he knew. "Uhh...hrrmmm." He looks at her. An axe, and light, ragged clothing. "...From what you're wearing, you look like a berserker or barbarian class." 

Kirigiri crosses her arms. "...I can't say that I'm very fond of what those names imply."

Naegi tilts his head. Kirigiri was a detective by trade, and was reticent and cool-headed, preferring logic and rationality over displays of emotion. A barbarian would be...the opposite.

"I'm surprised you'd pick a class like that, Kirigiri-san."

"I didn't pick this class," she responds, her tone flat.

"Oh! Uh, yeah I guess you wouldn't. ...Hmm, now that you mention it, I don't remember picking a class myself, either," he pauses. He's still staring at the axe head peeking from Kirigiri's backside. "C-can you actually hold that thing? It looks so heavy!"

Kirigiri reaches with her right hand over her shoulder and grasps the shaft of the axe. She pulls it out one-handed with surprising ease. "...It appears it's actually quite light."

"Wh-whoa! Really? Can I see it?" Naegi shuffles closer, and Kirigiri holds the axe out in front of her with a single arm. She lets go of it as he takes hold of the axe.

_THONK!_

"AAAGH--" the axe immediately slams to the floor, bringing Naegi's upper body down with it. Naegi just barely pulled his own feet out of the way before it fell. He grunts, trying to pick it back up, but wasn't seeing much success.

"Naegi-kun! Ah...apologies," Kirigiri seemed just as surprised as he was. She helps Naegi lift the axe back up, and Naegi gestures to hand the axe back to her. Kirigiri looks at the axe silently, before placing it behind her back in the holster. She  places a closed fist on her chin and  stares at Naegi, evaluating him, not speaking a word.

"It...it was so heavy! I wonder if this is a class thing..." Naegi was searching through his limited, mostly casual gaming experience. "Maybe your 'Strength' rating is higher than mine, so you can use it, but I can't...or maybe it's restricted by class..." Naegi thinks aloud. Hmm? He feels two hands under his armpits. And suddenly, his feet are off the ground.

Kirigiri was lifting him off the ground from under his arms. She stares at him, stone-faced. They look at each other in silence for a few moments, as Naegi's legs dangle in the air.

After a moment, Naegi recovers from his surprise and breaks the silence.

"K-Kirigiri-san! Ah, w-wow, you're strong! Uh, you can put me down now," Naegi stammers. Kirigiri's expression doesn't change, although she blinks, her eyes boring a hole into his own; her eyes had the look they always did when she was analyzing,  _calculating_ . ...And there was something else in her eyes. He...he could almost swear she was smirking.

She puts him down wordlessly, clearing her throat, looking at the opened palms of her own gloved hands.

"Th-thanks," Naegi adjusted his shirt. "I guess you can do that too now, hahah...."

"...Yes. What about you?" Kirigiri turns to him. Naegi pauses.

"Oh! Hmm..." He glances down at his knife. "I...I think I look like I'm dressed as something like a ranger, rogue, or...uh...a thief."

"And?"

"U-uh...usually they are supposed to be good at things like stealing, lying...uh...backstabbing..."

"How...fitting, Mr. Open Book." Oh, there was no mistake she was smirking now. "Are you going to try stealing something from me?"

Naegi's eyes snapped to her in surprise. "S-steal from you? Wh-why?"

"You should familiarize yourself with your own capabilities, Naegi-kun."

Oh. She's right. "R-right, that makes sense. I can just return what I steal to you if I manage to steal anything." He approached her. How...how did this work anyway? Normally it's a command on a text box, or maybe a hotkey. There wasn't anything like that here, though. He squints, looking at Kirigiri, who now had her arms crossed, observing him. Did Kirigiri even  _have_ anything to steal? The axe? He couldn't even carry that! Her...her loincloth!? No, no he couldn't! Then...what...

As he squinted, somehow, he understood; he could see it. Her loincloth had a pocket. There were five coins in it. It was odd, but he just knew; they were almost  _visible._ Okay, he had his target.

Kirigiri observes him quietly, noticing a glint in his eye that made her suddenly feel exposed. ...Not that her current state of dress didn't already, but the air shifted. Her eyes focus on him; it seems he had figured something out. That's reasurring. 

She blinks. Her eyes widen. He...he was gone...?

"Aah--!" Naegi yelps. Kirigiri turns quickly to her side, and spots Naegi with his face flat on the floor not a meter from her, two small metallic objects sailing out of his right hand, landing not far in front of him. She hadn't seen him move. The objects that fell from his fingers looked like coins. She felt her own pocket; she had checked them briefly when she first woke up, and had found five coins on her person. Now, there were three coins. 

...Interesting, so that's how his ability worked. She looks back to Naegi, who was slowly getting back up, rubbing his head, and she smiles internally. His execution was clumsy, but he somehow managed to remove something from her pocket without her noticing.

"...Apart from your prone position after the fact, that was actually quite impressive. You'll need to work on your execution, however," she stated. Naegi chuckled sheepishly, reaching out to pick up the two coins. He scrambled back over to her.

"H-here, you can have them back. I...I'm still not exactly sure how it works, honestly," he smiles awkwardly. She receives the coins from Naegi and places them back in her pocket.

At that moment, Naegi freezes, and his eyes dart to a shadow moving behind Kirigiri. Something red was glowing.

"K-Kirigiri-san! Something's coming!" he shouts. She turns, and a figure came into view from the shadows. It looks like a blob, with two colors that split down the middle of its body, one side blue and the other white. The blue side had a red, glowing eye that looked menacing.

"S-Stop!" Naegi's hands shook as he reached for the knife in his belt. "Stay back!"

The blob did not respond; it didn't seem to understand. It simply continued to advance. Its mouth opened wide, showing an array of sharp teeth. It...definitely didn't look friendly.

Kirigiri had already pulled out her axe in one smooth motion. Holding it with both hands, she steps in front of Naegi just as the blob leaps towards them, and leading with an elbow, she makes a broad diagonal swing with her axe. A loud crunch breaks through the air as the blade makes contact with the blob, cleaving through its outer layer and carrying the blob with it through the air before crashing to the floor. The axe lay embedded in the floor, the blob split in half at either side, circuitry sparking and exposed, before it vanishes into thin air. What remains is a noticeable indent in the floor, with a crack feathering out from the axe about a meter in length.

Naegi looks at Kirigiri, whose shoulders are rising up and down as if she's breathing heavily. After a moment she sighs.

"...That...was more forceful than I intended. But it did the job." She puts the axe back in its holster, turning back to Naegi. "Are you alright, Naegi-kun?"

"Y-yeah.... That...was kind of awesome." Naegi just kind of stares at her.

"...Are they meant to disappear like that?" Kirigiri motions toward the crack on the floor where the blob had just vanished.

"Oh, yeah, in most games they just tend to fade away or something. Not really sure how it works--" Naegi is interrupted just as a screen pops up in front of them in midair.

[Victory! You gained 2 XP.]

"--Uh...we gained 2 XP...?" Naegi reaches out to poke at the words that popped up in front of them, and they vanish.

"XP? Is this an abbreviation?"

"Usually it means 'experience', which lets you gain levels and get stronger."

"...I see."

An odd howling noise resounds in the cave.

"...This place seems to be dangerous; we're lucky we weren't attacked earlier before we woke up. Let's find a way out." Kirigiri looks towards the only exit to the room, which the blob had come from.

"Right! That's a good idea." Naegi looks back to where the blob disintegrated. A coin is where its body was. "Oh. Maybe we should take this."

"...Yes." Kirigiri watches Naegi pick the coin up and pocket it. "...Stay behind me, Naegi-kun."

"A...alright. Hahah, in a game, this arrangement would make the most sense for the classes we have," Naegi falls into step behind Kirigiri, and they venture into the tunnel.

***

Before long, they reach a fork with two passages, one going left and the other going right.

Kirigiri pauses, looking down each one; both are pitch black. She turns to look at Naegi.

"Take off your hood."

"Huh? Oh, okay," he just finished pulling his hood off when Kirigiri lifts him up from under his arms, and holds him up into the air.

"WHOA! ......Uh...we're doing this again aren't we," Naegi looks down at Kirigiri.

She stares up at his hair antenna, which subtly appears to be pushed to the left. She puts Naegi down as he blinks at her in confusion.

"Air current from the right side. We'll go right," she turns around.

"Oh. ...Normally don't you lick your finger and raise it to feel the air current?"

Kirigiri raises her gloved hand and glances at him. 

"...Oh, right," Naegi says lamely. Kirigiri didn't particularly like taking off her gloves. He thinks a little bit longer before he blinks and shakes his head, "...Wait. You could've just asked me to do it."

Kirigiri gives him a look, her normally cold eyes glinting with a hint of amusement, and starts off towards the right tunnel.

"...H-hey! Wait for me!" Naegi sighs. She probably just wanted an excuse to do that again, didn't she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on skills used this chapter:
> 
> Naegi (Thief): Steal (on Kirigiri)  
> Kirigiri (Barbarian): None, only used a normal attack. And lifting Naegi, although lifting Naegi is not a special skill.
> 
> AN:  
> This'll be my first time doing a longer series. I have multiple "plot" points in mind as well as an ending in mind, although a good many of the steps along the way are still open. Hope you enjoy! v:  
> Update schedule will probably be something like biweekly (every 2 weeks) due to work / being busy / making sure I plan ahead far enough so I don't write myself into a plot hole (which will probably still happen) / all that good stuff. Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

As Naegi and Kirigiri travel through the tunnel, the passageway slowly opens up. Darkness spills out in front of them, their vision limited by the dimness of the torches mounted on the wall. The torches suddenly end, and Kirigiri's advance halts. Naegi stops behind her.

"What is it?" Naegi whispers. Kirigiri stares up at the darkness ahead; the outlines of the wall were fanning out, seeming to indicate that the passage was opening up into a larger room.

"I think there's something up ahead," Kirigiri whispers back, her eyes straining against the darkness.

The two stand motionless in silence for a moment. After a pause, Kirigiri takes a step forward.

"GROAAAGH!" a loud roar resounds, causing Naegi to jump. A red glow in the distance appears, several meters in the air. Several torches suddenly light up, revealing a circular room, and an enormous version of the blob they encountered earlier.

The blob sits alone at the opposite end of the room, baring its teeth. This one was instead green and white, and big. _Really_ big. Maybe about 5 meters high. It had a red eye in the green half of its body, with a black, beady eye in the white half. 

Kirigiri scans the room quickly. It is circular, with a tall ceiling, and is devoid of all objects aside from the blob. Is this a dead end...? No, the air currents didn't lie; upon closer inspection, there was a passageway leading off to the right. Should they make a break for it?

Without delay, the blob begins bouncing towards them, the floor shaking.

"Naegi-kun! This way!" Kirigiri runs along the wall towards the right, keeping the blob in sight. Naegi nods quickly, following her. The large size of the blob thankfully that made it somewhat slow. It kept its glowing eye entrained on them as they ran, slowly turning as it tracks their movement.

Kirigiri reaches the exit, and she could see a bright light at the end of the passage. This was likely an exit. She wasn't particularly keen on fighting the blob, and Naegi, who was right beside her, looked terrified as well. Perhaps it might be better to retreat for now--

"Oomph--" Naegi had just run ahead of her towards the passage when he seemed to have collided with something, and was knocked back on his rear end. Kirigiri runs to his side and reaches towards the exit, her hand encountering resistance in the air where there was no visible obstacle. 

"K-Kirigiri-san, I don't think we can get out from here!" Naegi was getting up from the floor, massaging his forehead which had struck the barrier first, looking between the exit and back at the blob, which was starting to get too close for comfort.

"Let's go back and find another way out."

Pulling Naegi back to his feet, Kirigiri darts back in the other direction where they had come from with Naegi in tow. They reach the passage they had just come from, when they encounter another barrier. Those were the only two exits out of this room; it seems they are sealed in. 

"I suppose we have no choice but to fight," Kirigiri turns to face the blob, which was now nearly on top of them.

The blob leaps, aiming to slam into the two.

Kirigiri dives, rolling to the side. She hears Naegi yelp, accompanied by the fluttering of clothing, and with a quick glance she sees he had rolled to the opposite side. He was running, the blob chasing after him; by his luck, the blob had opted to select him as its first target. Its back was exposed to her. 

This was an opening. She was confident in her strength from the previous encounter with the smaller blob. She pulls out her axe and takes a deep breath.

Eyes on the back of the blob, axe in both hands, she puts her right foot forward. As she does so, she feels an odd sensation, as if her body knew what to do. She shifts her weight forward into a running start. Her left foot goes down, and she shoves a bit higher into the air. 

With force, right foot slams into the cavern floor; she allows the force to bend her knee, and her thighs tense. Heat builds in her legs as her calves and quadriceps tighten, her legs straighten, and she begins to rise. Her ankles flex just as she leaves the floor and she springs upwards, her back straightening, the inertia propelling her into the air. She was rising, a meter...no, meters into the air. With both hands gripping her axe, she lets the weight of the axe pull behind her back from gravity, her arms following, the axe poised to strike.

The arc of her leap begins to descend. She was quickly closing in on the back of the blob, and her shoulders and triceps tense. She throws her chest forward, shoulders and arms following as the axe comes down. 

The blade crunches against the blob's body, and she continues falling. She clenches down firmly against the axe as it pushes back while she continues descend, the edge ripping through the creature as she falls. A piercing sound of grinding metal echoes in the cave walls as the bladed edge slices cleanly through the body, forming a jagged, gaping wound. The cave shudders as she impacts the floor. 

The blob roars intensely. It had a long gash running from three quarters up its body all the way to the floor, exposed wires and circuitry crackling. Kirigiri pulls the axe out of the floor and jumps backwards as the blob turns to face her, its eyes set on her as its new target.

It...was still alive?

Naegi turns upon hearing the roar, and saw the blob had switched targets, and was bouncing after Kirigiri. An enormous gash in its body was visible, and Naegi blanches in surprise at the size of the wound. Did Kirigiri do that...!? That was amazing...!

There must be something he could do....

Eyes darting through the circuitry, he looks for something, anything like a weakness. Lights sparked within the meter-wide gash as the blob bounced towards Kirigiri; she had started running back in direction of the exit. With some focus, through the white sparks he saw a faint yellow glowing orb within the depths of the blob's interior. Somehow the sight felt familiar; yellow in the midst of a sea of white noise.

He'd trust his instinct. His fingers close over the handle of his knife, and he pulls it out and points it forward at the side of his hip, his eyes focused on the yellow orb. It flits in and out of view, periodically hidden by white, crackling sparks. He locks onto its presence, and time seems to slow. He lowers his body, his knees bending. His torso pitches forward, shoulders dropping to the level of his hips, eyes locked onto the yellow orb. He felt an acidic surge of adrenaline in his legs. 

Uncoiling like a spring, he kicks into the floor, and the world was a blur. Nothing was visible to him aside from the yellow orb, which rapidly came into proximity. His shoulder lifts forward in anticipation of the impact, and he drives the knife forward. A deafening crackle of metal on metal reverberates through his ears upon contact, and he sails forward, the yellow orb shattering. 

[BREAK]

He sails out the other end of the blob, having pierced through its body.

Turning around midair, he sees the enormous blob beginning to crumble, the red eye dimming. He draws in a breath, courage and adrenaline surging in him. He could do this! Maybe this wasn't going to be that bad. 

He then glances downwards; there was Kirigiri, who was staring up at him, wide-eyed as he sailed over her at high speed. 

Oh. Uh oh, the ground's coming, and it's coming fast.

He lands feet first with a crunch; that didn't sound good. Momentum still propelling him forward, he falls face forward towards the ground. He tucks himself into a roll, bumping unceremoniously across the floor.

"Naegi-kun!" Kirigiri runs up to him. 

The world's spinning; he struggles to plant a hand on the floor as he tries to reorient himself.

"I...I got it, right...?" Naegi looks over at toward the creature. Kirigiri's gaze follows. It was motionless, the eye that was formerly red no longer glowing.

"Its body...it hasn't disappeared yet," Kirigiri says slowly. Naegi sat up, legs sprawled out in front of him. Kirigiri holds out a hand and pulls him up. 

"M-maybe we should make sure it's dead," Naegi takes a hesitant step forward. He winces; he might have landed on his right leg a little too hard.

"Don't move, I'll take a look," Kirigiri moves toward the body. Stopping in front of the blob, she runs an open palm over the surface of the blob. It didn't respond. She walks around to its back and pokes her head into the open gash she had carved.

"...Ah. Interesting." 

She came back out holding three vials filled with a light blue substance. As she steps away from the blob, the body then begins to vanish, appearing to evaporate into the air.

Naegi watches the last remnants of the blob's body sizzle and vanish. Three coins pop up in its place. "Huh, maybe bodies don't disappear if there's loot to pick up from it," he says as Kirigiri picks the coins up, walking back towards him.

[Victory! You gained 100 XP. Level up! You are now Level 2.]

Naegi tilts his head at the message that popped up in front of him. "We gained a level, that's good! ..." He prods at the message that had popped up in front of him, and it disappears. "Oh. That's it...? I wonder what changed. Hmm..."

Kirigiri holds out one of the vials out towards him. "Any idea what this is, Naegi-kun?"

"Uhhh...I don't know for sure, but uh maybe it's one of those healing items like a potion or something."

"Couldn't it also be poison? The light blue coloring is...rather uninformative," Kirigiri inspected the vial from an angle.

"Oh...huh, maybe, I'm not sure," Naegi tries to walk forward, when pain shoots up through his leg. He lets out a cry, and falls to a knee. 

"Naegi-kun!" Kirigiri runs up and knelt beside him. Before he can protest, she pulls his trousers up from his boots and finds a long, black bruise running up his shin to his knee. This was worrying; he might have trouble walking. 

"Maybe you could try the vial on me," Naegi laughs a little and leans backwards, sitting down. Kirigiri pauses, hesitating. 

"...We don't know this isn't poison." Her brow creases.

"Oh...well, in most games poison doesn't really do much aside from really small gradual damage, so even if it were I'd probably be fine," Naegi says.

"Is that so." Kirigiri pulls out the stopper for one of the vials, her eyes turning to her own arm. There was a small cut on her arm from the scuffle with the large blob just earlier, and she brings the vial over it. Naegi notices what she was doing and his eyes widen.

"Wait! I didn't say to try it on yourself--"

She tilts the vial on it and lets out a small drop. It lands on the small cut on her arm. The injury promptly disappears the moment the liquid made contact, the speed of the recovery surprising them both. After a moment of silence, it seems nothing else happens.

"...Alright. It's not poison." She bends down to apply the liquid to Naegi's injured leg, when she notices a look of vexed discomfort on his face that...seemed not to originate from the state of his leg. She sighs. "You're already injured. I think of the two of us, a possible affliction would be more bearable for myself."

Naegi pouts a little, but seems to concede. Kirigiri offers a subtle smile upon seeing his response, and applies the salve to his leg.

"A...ahh.... Wow, that feels better." Naegi blinks down at his leg, the bruise apparently gone. The vial was now empty, and it vanishes from her grip.

"...This world certainly has its conveniences." Kirigiri looks at the other two vials she had obtained from the blob. "This will definitely come in handy." She pockets one. She holds out the other one to Naegi.

"Hold onto this one."

Naegi stands up and accepts the vial, placing it in one of his own pockets. 

"Phew, I'm glad we managed to make it out of that in one piece." He turns towards the exit. "I wonder if we can leave now...?" Naegi jogs towards the light emanating from outside of the cave. He crosses the point where he had been stopped earlier. "The invisible wall is gone! We can get out of here now!" He grins broadly back at Kirigiri. 

Kirigiri allows herself a small smile in response.

"Yes. Let's go."

***

"We're out!!!" Naegi leaps out into the fresh air. The sunlight was warm on his skin. The cave opens out into a clear, blue sky overlooking a dusted pathway framed by a lightly wooded forest. It was a welcome change in scenery compared to the dark, damp cave they had come out of.

Oh, there's a sign at the end of the path. The road itself splits in two directions. The sign was a single rectangular board with a few words inscribed on it. He mentally reads the sign.

'Welcome, Traveler! Follow the path left to reach Alpis. Follow the right path to reach the Lepid Forest!' 

"Alpis...Huh, I wonder if that's a name of a town..." he thinks aloud.

Kirigiri follows behind shortly, peering over his shoulder at the sign.

Naegi turns to Kirigiri. "What do you think 'Alpis' is? It says we follow the path left to go there, while a forest is to the right. Do you think it's a town?"

Kirigiri frowns. She stares at the sign in silence, blinking. A gloved hand came up to her chin, and if possible, her frown deepened.

"...Naegi-kun. You can read this?"

"Huh...?" He stares at her, confused.

"What language is this?"

"W-wha...? It's...the same language we're speaking!"

Kirigiri blinks and stares at Naegi, her gaze unreadable.

"....That's impossible," she states.

"B-but...it is..." Naegi's confusion is rising.

Kirigiri is silent. She walks off to a branch lying on the side of the road and picks it up, looking at the sign.

"That's not our language. Our language looks like this," Kirigiri places the stick to the ground. Just as she begins to move the stick, she freezes. Her breath catches, and her eyes widen. She pauses, frozen, for a few seconds.

"...K...Kirigiri-san?" Naegi, unsure what was wrong, speaks up after a moment of silence. 

Nothing. Nothing was coming to mind. She forms the words in her mind. 'This is how our alphabet looks'. She tries to imagine the letters in her mind. Letters...? How did letters look? She searches her mind and... ....Nothing. Impossible. There was nothing. No, this couldn't....

Kirigiri lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She stares back up at the sign. Cryptic shapes and odd forms stand in front of her, indecipherable. 

Naegi was watching her, and a realization was slowly dawning on him. "...U-uhm, s-sometimes in some RPGs, barbarians are illiterate...b-because of lore...."

Kirigiri inhales sharply. Illiterate. She? The Ultimate Detective?  _Illiterate?_ ....Hah. 

....No. That wasn't acceptable. She marches up to the sign, the intensity of her gaze searing a hole through the sign...figuratively, of course. Birds suddenly flew out of the tree behind the sign in a hurry. That was probably unrelated.

Naegi watches as she traces with a finger over the 'W' in the word 'Welcome' with painful deliberation, her hand shaking slightly, and she steps away, stick back in hand, trying to replicate it on the dusty path. She pauses, and with nothing drawn, she turns back to the sign again....

She repeats this cycle a few times, with her frown deepening each time. Naegi watches, musing to himself that he doesn't see her frustrated very often, but then he starts feeling a bit bad for her when she turns back to the sign after failing to get a 'W' down the fifth time in a row.

"K-Kirigiri-san, it's okay," Naegi calls out, and her head snaps up. He startles when she makes eye contact with him; her look right now was  _intense._ He fought the urge to shrink away, but failed, stepping back a little.

As she stares at him, Naegi looked frightened. ...Ah, her breathing was uneven. She needed to calm down. She inhales deeply and sighs, eyes dropping to the dusty path in front of her. This...wasn't the end of the world. It was fine. She was...an illiterate barbarian. It was...fine. Her jaw tightens. She brought up a hand and massages her temple.

Naegi grasps at the first thought that comes to mind. "Sometimes barbarians can uhh...invest skill points to learn the literacy skill!"

Kirigiri blinks, looking back up at him. There's a sort of intense fire in her eyes that he rarely saw. After a moment, she closes her eyes and tosses the stick to the side of the pathway.

"...To answer your question, yes, I believe this 'Alpis' is likely a town. It would be the wiser destination, if the other direction leads to a forest. Let's go." Kirigiri starts off towards the left immedately.

"Ah! Okay, coming!" Naegi follows her in a hurry, still deep in thought. He hadn't even considered these types of setbacks would accompany the classes they were given. He wasn't entirely sure if she could actually learn the literacy skill, since he just made that up on the spot, but...he could hope. 

***

Monokuma lies on its belly, elbows on the floor and hands propping up its chin as it watches a monitor and sips through a straw on ... something despairful. It was a dark black liquid with a mountain of white on top. Probably diet soda with added sugar.

"Upupupu...looks like the second party  _finally_ finished the easy ass tutorial level and got outta the cave. I bet they think they're hot stuff now. Can't wait to see the look on their faces when they get into a  _real_ battle."

Monokuma rolls on the floor a little to the side, leaving the drink in place, ending up lying on its side propping up its head with an arm, looking at a shadowy figure.

"Ya got the entrance setup right?"

"Hohoh, it's ready! I'll be prepared for them!" The shadowy figure leaps into the air, vanishing.

"...Upupupupu!!" Monokuma rolls back to its drink. "I'm ready for the real despair!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on skills used this chapter (they aren't really aware they're using these skills yet, although they're just kind of using them instinctively):  
> Naegi (Thief): Weakpoint Strike  
> Kirigiri (Barbarian): Leap Attack, Intimidating Presence (inadvertently on the sign, and on Naegi)
> 
> AN: The town's name, Alpis, is a really badly butcherized romanization of the Greek word "Ελπίζω" for "Hope". Also sounds like the famous mountain range, the Alps aka a "Peak".  
> AN2: Idk wtf Monokuma's drinking tbh.


	3. Chapter 3

Along a dusty path framed by grass and plantlife, Naegi and Kirigiri walk with a brisk pace towards Alpis.

Kirigiri had initially been leading the way, although her pace had since fallen behind, deep in thought.

She wasn't sure how much of a setback her illiteracy would be, but now she wasn't sure what else she had lost. Basic arithmetic seemed intact; when Naegi had stolen the coins from her pocket earlier, she easily recognized that the difference in number was consistent with what she had originally. She hadn't detected any deficiencies in her analytical skills yet, either, although she hadn't encountered anything that would particularly test them.

Words, however, were another matter entirely. Oddly enough, she knew what the definition of letters were, understanding the concept that an image or series of lines could represent a spoken word. However, when trying to recall any examples, nothing would come up. She could easily imagine the sound and pronunciation of speech; it was odd...

"Wow, there're a lot of plants I've never seen before around here," Naegi admires the foliage growing along the path. Various flowers of blue, purple, red, and yellows dotted the pathway in small clusters. Some have spines, some have thick vines that splayed out like tentacles. Naegi slows down to kneel by a cluster of pink flowers that had literal white, fuzzy feathers blooming out of their centers, looking like oversized stamens.

"This one looks really interesting," Naegi reaches out to touch one of the feathers. Kirigiri looks up from her reverie, and her eyes widen when she sees what Naegi was reaching towards.

"Naegi, wait, don't touch--"

"Huh?" Naegi's hand grazes a feather before he pulls it back quickly. He wasn't quick enough, however; his entire body tenses, his muscles locking up. "Ack--I ca...can't..." he squeezes the words out through clenched teeth. Kirigiri rushes up to him just as he tips over backwards, body stiff, and she pulls him away from the plant. She examines him; he's breathing, and he blinks at her, his eyes gazing up at her. It seems he's still conscious.

"...Those flowers are a paralysis agent." Which was apparent after what just happened, but she had...somehow known about that ahead of time.

After a moment, the paralysis effect starts wearing off, and Naegi's body loosens up. He moves, shaking off the rigidity

"...S-sorry, I didn't know." Naegi looks at Kirigiri, curious. "....How did you know that they were dangerous, Kirigiri-san?"

Kirigiri cups her chin with a hand, blinking. "I'm not sure myself."

Naegi thought for a moment. "Do you think...maybe it has something to do with your class? Barbarians...maybe they have knowledge of natural plant life, since they're supposed to be good at surviving in the wilderness...?"

"Quite honestly, your guess is as good as mine. Either way, we could make use of this knowledge." Kirigiri looks over the remaining plantlife.

...Poison, poison, blindness, poison, paralysis, sleep...huh, that one was a hallucinogen.

"...Most of this plant life is dangerous. I'm not sure if we have any methods of carrying them safely at the moment, unfortunately, although we could come back at a later time if we find we need any of them and have a means to carry them."

"That sounds good to me. Maybe we could find something to carry them in town."

Naegi starts off on the road again. This time, he sticks close to the center of the road and away from the plantlife. Kirigiri follows behind him, back in deep thought. There was knowledge she had lost, and knowledge she didn't have before.... Perhaps Naegi also has knowledge pertaining to his class. He hasn't said anything of the sort so far, but it was a possibility.

She pinches with an index finger and thumb at the bridge of her nose. Those things aside, there was still the mystery of how they had gotten here in the first place.

"Hey! There are buildings up ahead!" Naegi points straight ahead down the road.

Ah, so there are.

"Huh, there's a big pink 'Shop' building." Naegi comments.

At least five buildings were ahead, the closest and most eyecatching one with light pink walls, a white rooftop, and a very conspicuous sign labeled, presumably from what Naegi said, with "Shop". The sign had cartoon wings sprouting out of it, and a pink cartoon wand behind what she could only assume was the text. There was another taller building partially hidden by trees, with an ornate, pointed rooftop. It was somewhat difficult to discern exactly what it was, but it had an outline reminiscent of a bell tower. Possibly a church? The other buildings were smaller, and appear to be residential.

As they get closer, they hear the sound of someone yelling.

" _...Garbage_! This class ... utter-- ... unbefitting ...! ... at once!"

The words are distant, flitting in and out of comprehensibility, but undeniably familiar.

"...It's Togami-kun!!" Naegi gasps, and immediately starts running towards the voice. Kirigiri picks up her pace, following not far behind. They run past the shop building, and she notes its doors were closed, although there's a placard outside the door that's illegible. As they get closer, a grand fountain comes into view, sitting in the middle of what appears to be a town square. The building resembling a church lies nearby, up a set of stone stairs, and on the opposite side of the square, two figures stand arguing by the fountain.

"Change my class immediately. It is undignified, unsuitable, and unacceptable for one such as myself." A man wearing a striped, light blue and white jester hat with a puffy color-matching jester suit is gesturing at a man with unkempt, wild hair. The man's unkempt hair stood in stark contrast to their slick black tuxedo. Naegi stares at the jester-clad figure, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Was that Togami? Wearing a...jester costume...?

"Togami-kun...?" Naegi calls out. The jester spins immediately toward Naegi upon hearing his voice, speaking in a tone dripping with a familiar condescension.

"...Well, if it isn't Naegi. Tell him, Naegi. This issue must be rectified. Immediately." He motions to the man in a tuxedo next to him, who also looks familiar.

"Hagakure-kun!" Naegi was overjoyed; they'd found two of their friends!

"Naegi-cchi! Save me!! Toges won't listen, I can' t do a thing!" Hagakure waves his hands frantically at Naegi.

"Yes, you can, fool. You are the designated class skill master." Togami glares at Hagakure through his glasses.

"Uh...class skill master?" Naegi asks. His eyes are drawn to a shining badge pinned to the chest of Hagakure's tuxedo.

"Oh. Your badge does say 'Class Skill Master.' So...would you be able to help us figure out what our classes do?"

"I don't know anything, I swear!!! I just woke up with this suit on and I can't even take it off, but I really don't know anything about this 'Class Skill Master' stuff!!"

"...So, Togami-kun, what class are you? A clown?" Kirigiri speaks up, looking at Byakuya, a gloved hand on her chin. She was smirking; she couldn't help it. She would have snorted with laughter at first sight of him, but she had more self control than that.

"I assure you, that class belongs to _him_ ," Togami motions with his chin towards Hagakure (Kirigiri's eyes are drawn to Togami's jester hat, or more specifically to three baubles attached to his hat that wiggle, making a jingling sound in response to the sharp motion of his head; she holds her tongue). Hagakure had hidden himself behind Naegi, deciding that Naegi would be a good shield between himself and Togami.

"And what class are you, in that state of uncouth dress? A barbarian?" Togami scoffs at Kirigiri.

"...Tch." Kirigiri decides not to dignify that with any further response.

"Guys, please! Let's work together to figure out what we're supposed to do to uh...beat this game and get back to our world," Naegi says.

Togami glares at Naegi. "It's obvious. There's a large building at the end of that cursed forest neighboring this town, where an alleged 'Despair King' lives. It is as simple as defeating him," Togami adjusts the frame of his glasses impatiently, continuing, "if only that cursed thing would let us through. The donut-obsessed fool got herself killed trying to get in, and given my current state, I wasn't in any position to help."

"Asahina-san!? K-k-...ki..." Naegi's breath catches as he chokes on the word.

"She's in the process of resurrection at the church. She's not permanently dead, fool." Togami looks towards the building with the bell tower they had seen earlier.

"Let's go see her!" Naegi says. Kirigiri nods. Togami turns away.

"I shall find a way to acquire the class change I deserve." Togami starts walking towards the light pink 'Shop' building.

"Togami-kun, wait! We should stay together."

"I would much rather spend my time finding a way to be rid of this useless attire," He gives Naegi a cold stare, before walking away. Naegi watches him leave in silence. Togami's hat bounces and jingles with each step as he disappears from view (in a...dignified manner? Or a joyful manner? Naegi wasn't sure).

"Let's go, Naegi-kun. We should go see Asahina-san." Kirigiri says.

"Oh! Right."

"Naegi-cchi! I'll come with!" Hagakure jogs up to them.

"Alright!"

The group starts off towards the church. The stone cobble path around the fountain transitions into stone steps leading up to the church. As they walk up, Naegi hears Hagakure grunt behind him.

"Ow! What--" Hagakure had stopped at the base of the stairs. A floating screen popped up in front of him.

[Error: The Class Skill Master must stay in the Town Square at all tim--]

"Gahhh it's the angry spirits again!" Hagakure cowers away from the message in fear, and it blinks away. He peeks from behind his fingers, and sighs in relief when he realizes it is gone. "I was hoping if I went with somebody, they would let me leave this place!"

"You've...been here the whole time?" Kirigiri spoke slowly.

"Y-yeah, I woke up next to the fountain. I saw that pink shop house and it looked pretty cool so I tried going there, but these evil spirits wouldn't let me. After a while I realized I was stuck near this fountain. Agh, everything here is out to get me, I swear!" He complains.

"...Hagakure-kun, we'll try to figure out a way to let you leave the town square. I'm sure there's a way." Naegi says.

"Really, Naegi-cchi!? You're the best!" Hagakure claps both hands together and holds them up to Naegi.

"In the meantime, please figure out how exactly your 'Class Skill Master' role works. It sounds like it could be of use." Kirigiri stares at the badge on his suit. Her brow creases. The curving lines on the badge were incomprehensible, but Naegi had no reason to lie about what it said.

"R-right! Uh, will do, Kirigiri-cchi!" he gives her a thumbs up.

"Alright, we're going to check on Asahina-san!" Naegi waves at Hagakure as he jogs briskly to the church, Kirigiri behind him.

***

Wooden double doors greet them at the entrance to the church. Naegi pushes the doors open, and two rows of pews framing an aisle adorned with a red carpet spread out before them. Near the altar is someone who probably is a priest by their looks, standing in front of and staring at a stone slab that had another person on it. The second figure is lying supine, unmoving.

"Asahina-san!!" Naegi calls out. The priest turns to face him.

Oh. Weird. The priest's hair looks like a floating appendage sprouting from the front of his forehead when seen from the side.

"Whoa. Naegi! The heck?" the priest's voice is brusque.

"...? Oowada-kun!" Naegi shouts in surprise.

He runs up to Oowada, glancing between Asahina's unconscious body and Oowada. "Is...is she okay?"

"I dunno. I only just woke up in this building whenTogami and Fukawa suddenly bust in here with Asahina, who's _unconscious,_ and they expect me to do something. The hell am I..."

Kirigiri walks up behind Naegi. "How's her condition?"

Oowada sighs. "I dunno, unconscious, that's what. It's been three days and.... Shit, honestly I have no idea what I'm s'posed to do." he looks towards the podium, where a book rests. "All I've got is that useless thing, and none of it makes sense."

Kirigiri inspects both Asahina and Oowada. Asahina was wearing a set of dark blue robes, which ran somewhat contrary to the more...exposed way the swimmer usually dressed. A white undershirt shown through the center of the robes as they split down the center, and she had a cap on where her usual hair bun was located.

Oowada has a white set of long, flowing robes on. The robes have ornate decoration, and he had golden tassels over his shoulders, befitting of a priest...but not so much befitting of Oowada's usual image as a biker gang leader.

Oowada catches her looking at him, and says, "Hey, Kirigiri! You're a detective. Maybe you can figure this shit out. Here," Shoving his robes out of the way of his feet, Oowada jogs over to the podium and brings the book back, handing it to Kirigiri.

She stares at the book for a moment, reaching to open the cover when her hands freeze. _Illiterate barbarian_ , an annoying voice in her head says. She frowns.

Naegi, curious, had come up next to her.

"Naegi-kun."

"Huh?"

Kirigiri quickly hands the book over to him, and he fumbles with it, having been taken by surprise by both the fact that it was suddenly in his arms and that it was _heavy._

"I think you know what to do with that, Naegi-kun. I should take a closer look at Asahina-san." Kirigiri quickly retreats over to the altar where Asahina was.

"Huh? Naegi, you know what this book is?" Oowada looks at Naegi expectantly.

"U-uh..." he looks at the book. The book is _thick._ There must be over a thousand pages. The cover is blue, plain, with a single white line forming a rectangular frame on the cover of the book. He opens the book to a random page, and glances over the words.

Kirigiri knelt by Asahina, a finger on a pulse point on her arm. To her relief, a pulse was detectable.

"A buncha nonsense if you ask me," Oowada comments as Naegi scans the words.

Phrases throughout the passages look just like...like word problems from a math quiz. There were so many of them, all one after another. He flips through the book; the entire thing seemed to be filled with phrases that were posed like questions. Suddenly, he pauses on a page. Something about the words in the middle paragraph on this page caught his eye.

"For your patience in solving the riddles and finally arriving upon this page, we shall grant you the method for revival: Lay them upon the altar, and as a priest, thou shalt..." He pauses, squinting at the words of the book. "...slam the spine of this tome against their forehead for greatest effect." Naegi reads aloud.

"Whoa! I don't remember seeing that!" Oowada grabs the book from Naegi, scanning for the words.

"Probably because you didn't actually spend the time solving whatever riddle it refers to," Kirigiri says calmly. She briefly muses whether they had Naegi's luck to thank.

"Whoa, Naegi, you're a genius!"

"Actually uh, I think I just kinda happened to land on the right page..."

...Indeed.

"Huh. So it's saying to just wack 'em." Oowada says.

"Is...is that actually going to work?" Naegi looks hesitant.

"We got nothin' better to go off of, doesn't hurt to try!" Oowada had shut the book, marching up to where Kirigiri was kneeling besides Asahina. Without hesitation, he raises the thick volume.

"W-wait! Not too hard--" Naegi starts.

_SMACK!!!_

"OWWW!" Asahina shoots up, holding her forehead. Kirigiri quickly withdraws her hand just as Asahina sat up.

"Asahina-san!! You're okay!" Naegi exclaims.

"Who hit me just now...!?" Asahina glares around her, apparently oblivious to the state she was in earlier.

"Hey, I might be more suited to this priest stuff than I thought I was," Oowada grins proudly.

"You?! You hit me." Asahina targets her glare at Oowada.

"Heh, yeah," Oowada puffs his chest out.

Kirigiri just stares at Asahina. "...I can't believe that worked."

"What worked?" Asahina turns to look at Kirigiri. "Oh, hi Kirigiri-chan!"

"You apparently had been unconscious for three days," Kirigiri says.

Asahina stares back, silent. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she gasps.

"Oh my god. It was that RABBIT THING!" Asahina screams.

"R...Rabbit...thing...?" Naegi tilts his head.

"Yeah, a rabbit thing! It was blocking the way, and being really annoying. So I punched it! But it got mad and I don't remember much after that..."

"I...I guess you didn't have a way to defend yourself...?" Naegi asks.

"Yeah all I have is this, it's pretty useless for fighting..." Asahina digs in her robes and pulls out a scroll, which had a quill attached to it.

"Oh..." Naegi stares at the scroll, pensive. "...Huh...you're a scholar."

"A ... what?" Asahina asks.

"A scholar, I think. I don't think it's a class that's meant to use physical attacks. They usually use spells, knowledge, and their intelligence to defeat their enemies..."

"But...what if I just wanna punch something...?"

Naegi sighs. Kirigiri interjects, her voice even.

"Where did you encounter this creature?"

"Oh, in that creepy forest place next to this town, right before we could enter the big building to defeat the evil Despair...King....Oh wait, where's Togami-kun and Fukawa-chan?"

"We saw Togami-kun earlier. He's likely at the...'shop'. We haven't seen Fukawa-san yet, however." Kirigiri answers. She wonders where Fukawa was when they first met up with Togami.

Asahina sighs. "If I couldn't even defeat the rabbit thing, then I'm probably no match for the Despair King..." She looks at Kirigiri. A pause.

She nearly leaps in place, gasping.

"Kirigiri-chan! Y-you're...you're wearing...NOTHING!"

Kirigiri inhales sharply. Naegi flushes. Oowada starts laughing.

"You only just noticed!?" Oowada was hollering.

"...Actually, you didn't mention anything earlier, Oowada-kun..." Naegi says.

"Yeah, cuz I thought she was just tryin' shit out. You know, girls have different clothes on all the time," Oowada says, as if it were the most obvious thing.

Kirigiri clears her throat. "This is not my preferred state of dress. It just happens to be the attire for the class I was assigned."

"What class is that?" Asahina asks innocently. Her eyes were drawn to the axe behind her.

Kirigiri's eyes shift to the floor, and she mumbles something.

"Huh?"

"...A barbarian."

"Oh wow! We should totally switch classes! Then I could punch things." Asahina looks at her with excitement.

"Maybe Hagakure-kun could help with that...? He's the Class Skill Master or something," Naegi says.

Asahina pauses, and then sighs with exasperation. "I wish. We met up with him earlier. Hagakure-kun's useless as always." So apparently she had already tried speaking with him as well.

"So this...'rabbit' was blocking the way into the entrance of the Despair King's lair?" Kirigiri asks.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure we could get in if we got past that rabbit thing," Asahina was flexing her fingers, opening and closing her fists.

"Perhaps with Naegi and myself, we may be able to defeat it," Kirigiri stands up. "We had defeated some rather large creatures earlier."

"Whoa! You hafta tell me about it. Uh, later, let's go kick some rabbit ass!" Asahina swings her legs off the altar, hopping onto the floor. Her feet don't quite support her, however, and her knees give way.

"Ah--!" Asahina falls forward, when Kirigiri catches her quickly.

"Careful. It seems you may not be fully recovered. Perhaps you should stay here until then." Kirigiri turns to Oowada. "I trust you will provide her with proper care?"

Oowada grins broadly. "'Course! Leave it to me!"

"Dangit," Asahina grumbles. "I want to help."

Naegi wasn't so sure about Oowada's expertise, but he knew that it would probably be a bad idea to bring Asahina in her current state. "You should focus on getting better soon! We definitely could use your help when you're fully recovered," he says. She nods reluctantly.

Kirigiri sits Asahina back down on the altar.

"How hard is it to find this rabbit in the forest?" She asks.

"It's in front of the building's entrance. And the building is huge! You can't miss it. Once you enter the forest it's like the most obvious thing in the area, just go towards it." Asahina says.

"Alright, thanks Asahina-san!" Naegi smiles at her.

"Kick that rabbit's ass for me!" She smiles back.

***

They step out of the church's doors, and spot Hagakure sleeping by the fountain. Naegi sighs.

"I guess we'll figure out how to help him later..." he says. A thought crosses Naegi's mind and he briefly wonders if it ever rained here. ...Hopefully not while Hagakure was sleeping outside.

He spots the shop building.

"Do you think we should check in with Togami-kun first...?" Naegi asks.

"...Yes. It wouldn't hurt to check out what the shop has in stock as well." Kirigiri answers.

"Alright, let's go then!" Naegi starts down the stairs, and Kirigiri follows.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Notes on classes / skills used:
> 
> Naegi (Thief): He still has his Luck talent; Thief class kept his Luck stat high. Thank you Naegi, for saving us from the despair of tedium.  
> Kirigiri (Barbarian): Environmental Knowledge (Passive) on the roadside plants.  
> Oowada (Priest): Revive, Biker Gang version. Don't worry about it.  
> Asahina (Scholar): No skills used yet, although she punched something.


	4. Chapter 4

Naegi stands outside of the shop, blinking at its light pink walls, a pink door with white wings painted on the sides of its frame, and a white doorknob. Altogether the store looks rather whimsical and inviting. He peeks through the windows, and sees a display of trinkets, and just past them he can spot Togami.

"I wonder what he's buying," Naegi thinks aloud as he grabs hold of the entrance doorknob. Kirigiri stands behind him, silent, inspecting the items on display through the window.

Naegi opens the door to the shop, and stairs lead down to the center area of the shop, where two figures stand. Immediately, two pairs of eyes behind glasses are drawn to him, with the sound of ringing baubles. Right, Togami's jester hat. And next to him--

"Fukawa-san!" Naegi exclaims, gaping.

Fukawa looks... _huge,_ with the metal armor plating she was wearing, a breastplate covering her chest, shoulder pauldrons, and gauntlets covering her forearms. A heavy-looking set of greaves cover her legs, and the entire set of armor glistens with gold and white. On her waist hangs a large warhammer. Without a helmet, her head looks small in comparison to her armor. In between the armor plating, her figure was still as slim as it usually was, which made the armor look as if it was ill-suited for her.

"This shopkeeper...sh-she's got a lot a nerve, ignoring my Byakuya-sama..." Fukawa says. Naegi stares at her. 

"F-Fukawa-san...you're...a knight...!?" Naegi gapes.

"P-paladin!" she exclaims with pride. "I c-c-can be my Byakuya-sama's  _knight_ in  _shining armor_ ..." she turns to Togami with a lecherous grin.

Togami grimaces slightly, adjusting his glasses, electing not to respond. 

Kirigiri speaks up from behind Naegi. "Where have you been this whole time, Fukawa-san? Why weren't you with Togami-kun at the fountain earlier?"

Fukawa turns to Kirigiri, and blanches at the sight of her. 

"...D-d-disgusting...shameless...bimbo...." she mutters. 

Ah, it was probably what she was (or wasn't) wearing.

Kirigiri stares back at her, gaze piercing, as Fukawa shuffles slightly into a position that partially blocks Kirigiri from Togami's view. Kirigiri doesn't break eye contact with Fukawa the entire time, although she remains silent, continuing to bore down at her.

After a moment, Fukawa decides to finally answer the question. "I was ch-checking the rest of the buildings in town. They're...all locked except this one, and the church..."

"I see." Kirigiri places a closed fist on her chin. The other buildings were inaccessible, although the fact that they existed at all likely indicated that they had some function. Perhaps that would have to be uncovered with time.

Togami glares past Fukawa towards Naegi. 

"...Naegi. Wake the shopkeeper up." Togami glares up at Naegi. Somehow, as Togami would, he managed to make it seem like he's looking down on Naegi even though Naegi was standing at the top of the short staircase above him. 

Naegi sighs and looks towards the shop counter, where someone lays fast asleep. The shopkeeper is wearing a rather plain gray sweater, with short, light pink hair curling at her shoulders. 

Togami crosses his arms, tapping his elbow with a finger, "She has managed to remain asleep this entire time, ever since we first reached town days ago." 

"H-horrible work ethic..." Fukawa mutters.

Kirigiri approaches the figure, inspecting her. 

"...Chiaki Nanami, I believe. An upperclassman." Kirigiri says. 

Naegi walks up to the sleeping shopkeeper, laying a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Uh, hey...! Hey! Wake up!" he prods her.

No response, she continues breathing evenly.

Next to Naegi, Kirigiri's gaze wanders up to the shelves behind Nanami's sleeping figure.

The shelves contain a variety of odds and ends. She immediately recognizes the glass vials with blue liquid, similar to the ones she had picked up from the giant blob they defeated in the cave. Other vials of different shapes with liquids of various colors, plants, and trinkets are visible on the shelves. 

Something catches her eye. Next to the shelves behind the counter lies a small wooden table with a conspicuously ornate glass display case. On display, a single half-white, half-black rectangular prism the size of her palm rests in the center. From where she was standing, she could barely discern that it had wedges cut into its side, making it resemble a key, although she couldn't be certain.

She tries to lean over the counter, reaching towards the display case. Her hand encounters a barrier as if there was a wall, however. Her brow creases slightly. She turns to Naegi. 

"Naegi-kun, do you see that item in the glass display case?"

"Oh. Huh. Yeah that looks special."

"Can you steal it?"

"Wait what!?"

"Not so loud." The shopkeeper continues sleeping unperturbed. "...Not that she's waking up anytime soon."

"Well...I can try."

Naegi stares at the glass case, blinking. He squints. And squints.

Oh, there we go, it's kinda starting to glow.

And suddenly the world blinks, and he's behind the counter, the display case right beside him, although his feet aren't touching the floor.

He lands and stumbles, falling face flat on the floor. 

"OW!"

Groaning, he gets up, when a female voice he wasn't expecting comes from behind him.

"Oh...? You're trying to steal?"

Naegi turns around and comes face to face with the shopkeeper, who apparently had just woken up. She has a pout on her face.

"You shouldn't be here..." 

"O-oh! Nanami-san! You're awake! Sorry, I didn't mean to come here...I mean, I did, but...uh..."

Nanami interrupts him by flicking his forehead with her finger, and he pops into the air back on the customer side of the counter above Kirigiri's head. He immediately falls, and Kirigiri swiftly steps back, holding her arms forward, catching him.

"Whoa! Th-thanks..." Naegi looks up at Kirigiri, and then back towards Nanami. 

"Stealing isn't allowed..." Nanami yawns. "...Wait, my first customers. How was it supposed to go again..." She pauses.

They all look at her expectantly as she stares off into space. After some delay, Naegi realizes Kirigiri's holding him bridal style. He turns toward Kirigiri and meets the loincloth covering her chest, and realizes his face is right next to her exposed midriff. With all due swiftness, he takes on the color of a tomato. 

Kirigiri, meanwhile, is staring over him at Nanami, seemingly unperturbed. 

Nanami blinks, and looks over the occupants the shop. "...Oh, right. Welcome to Alpis general store! How can I help you?" She speaks with subdued enthusiasm.

Togami immediately steps forward.

"Is there a method by which I can change classes, shopkeeper?" He glares at Nanami impatiently. Kirigiri is also listening; she wants to know the answer too.

Nanami glances at Togami, tilting her head and giving him a puzzled look.

"...Oh, sorry, no. I think in this game you can't change classes once you've started with one." Nanami responds.

Togami grits his teeth. "...Well then. Do you sell attire?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry, I don't sell armor upgrades. This is a general item store," she says.

("...K...Kirigiri-san...! You can put me down now.")

("...Ah, yes. Pardon.")

Togami shoots his most condescending glare at Nanami. "You expect me to go around wearing this?" 

"...Sorry...I can't help you with equipment. ...However, I do think those are pretty good specs for a Jester, you get a nice Dex boost with that outfit." 

"...Tsk." 

Kirigiri cuts in.

"Nanami-san. Who set you up as the shopkeeper here?" She asks.

"Oh..." She pauses. "...I dunno. I woke up in here." She lets out a sigh. "...Honestly, I was pretty excited when I got here, at least at first. A lot of these things look like they're straight out of an RPG, it's like a dream come true. But then I realized I'm not allowed to leave the shop. Every time I do I just end up back inside, so I've been pretty bored." Nanami places both elbows on the counter, supporting her chin with her palms.

"I see." Kirigiri says. The presence of an upperclassman lent further weight to the possibility that this situation was tied to Hope's Peak, at the very least. However, she was still unaware of how many were affected, or why exactly this entire situation had occurred.

"Uh, what kind of things do you sell?" Naegi asks.

Nanami turns to him, placing her hands on the counter. "Oh, your usual item store stuff. Healing potions, antidotes, return wings, some basic consumables..."

"What's that item in the display case?" Kirigiri points with a piercing glare towards the key-like item she spotted earlier, before resting her eyes back on Nanami. 

Nanami turns around and notices the display case behind her. "...Ohh, that. Um...sorry, I'm not really sure, but I can't open the case myself either. I tried. You're supposed to bring something here before I can give that to you...I think."

"What do we have to bring?"

"...Uhm..." Nanami stares out a window. "...The Multiple Choice Answer."

"A multiple choice answer? To what question?"

"No, the Multiple Choice Answer."

Kirigiri stares.

"...It's the name of the item. 'Multiple Choice Answer'." Nanami clarifies.

Kirigiri blinks. "I...see. Where can we find it?"

"Somewhere in the bad guy's castle."

"The Despair King's castle?"

"Yeah."

Kirigiri places a hand on her chin. "...And how do you know this was the item that's needed?" 

"Oh. I read it in my shopkeeper instruction manual." Nanami answers.

"You have a manual? May I see it?" Kirigiri asks.

"Oh, sorry... It disappeared as soon as I finished reading it. Like, poof! A puff of smoke, and it was gone. But don't worry, when it comes to game info, if I read it once I'll remember it forever! You can count on me." Nanami brings up both fists in front of her, with determination on her face.

_I guess she is the Ultimate Gamer,_ Naegi thinks. 

Nanami tilts her head to the side. "...So 're you guys going to buy something?"

"Oh! Yeah definitely. We're gonna be fighting a...rabbit thing. I know it sounds kind of vague, but...do you have anything for that?" Naegi asks.

"Rabbit...thing...?" Nanami looks puzzled.

Kirigiri blinks, and turns to Togami. "That reminds me. Togami-kun, you failed to mention this...'rabbit' that Asahina did. Putting aside the fact that you should have let us know about potential dangers when we first met, do you have more information regarding it?"

Togami sighs impatiently. "Yes, there was unearthly vermin at the entrance to the castle. Fukawa, explain."

Fukawa jumps at her name being called, preening at the attention. "Y-yes, that...filthy creature was too f-fast for me to keep up with. It was everything I could do to f-follow Byakuya-sama's orders and carry Asahina back to town..."

"Asahina-san is awake. She's currently recovering at the church." Kirigiri says.

"Well, then, we have recovered an idiot that might be useful as a meatshield." Togami gives Kirigiri a dismissive scoff. Naegi stiffens, looking as if he was somewhat upset, but Togami continues, "Don't tell me you plan to fight that creature we encountered." 

Naegi straightens his back. "We defeated a few strong-looking monsters in a cave just earlier, I think we have a chance. You never know until you try."

Fukawa glowers at them. "I d-d-don't know if that's the case. We also defeated some pretty m-mean looking things, but they were nothing like that r-r-rabbit...."

"Um...so..." Nanami blinks at Naegi and Kirigiri. "A thief...and a barbarian, right...? You want to fight something with a high Speed stat, it sounds like? If you guys don't have magic, then maybe you could try a ranged skill. Both your your classes should have throwing skills, I think. Thrown items can ignore the evasive speed stat check. I've got some throwing knives here somewhere..."

She turns around to one of the trinket-filled shelves, pulling off what looks like a belt with a compartment holding several knives in it, and brings it to the counter.

"Here's a set of ten. Five coins for all ten." Nanami holds out an open hand, signaling five. "It comes with the belt to hold them."

"Hmm...we have 15 coins between Kirigiri and me, I think," Naegi says, "We both started with 5 each, and we got another 5 in the cave. Are there any other things we should buy?"

Nanami puts a finger on her chin, thinking. 

"Do you have potions on you? Those are always nice to have. It's also good to always carry at least one return wing so you can get back to town if you're in a pinch." 

"Oh, we have potions, but a return wing sounds good. How much does that cost?"

"Five coins."

"Hmm...we also wanted something to carry dangerous plants in, right Kirigiri-san?" Naegi turns to Kirigiri.

"...Yes," she responds.

"Oh...? You're doing crafting?" Nanami sounds somewhat excited. "These bottles filled with oil are supposed to be for extracting plant essences. You just steep 'em in the bottle for a few minutes. The bottles are 5 coins each." She looks at the throwing knives on the table. "...I think you might be able to dip the throwing knives in whatever you extract for the knives to gain an added effect."

"Oh wow, that sounds pretty good. I guess we'll get one of those too..." Naegi says. "...That works out pretty well. Hahah, does everything here cost five coins?"

Nanami blinks. "...Nah, potions, antidotes, and eye drops are two, smoke bombs are three, ethers are ten. I just never use status healing items or smoke bombs in games I play so I wasn't gonna suggest them for now unless you really needed them, and you aren't magic users so you probably won't need ethers. I don't have anything else in stock right now." 

"Will you get new stock later?" Naegi asks.

"...Maybe," Nanami looks towards the ceiling, thinking. "...Oh right, I'm supposed to let you guys know something kinda important. If everyone in a party gets knocked out, then it's possible you could be permanently incapacitated...I think. So it's better that at least one person stays alive and can use a return wing."

Togami and Fukawa immediately snap to attention, as does Kirigiri.

"Permanently incapacitated?" Togami repeats, glaring at Nanami.

"W-we can d-d-die!?" Fukawa sputters.

"...I'm not sure about the details, that's just what I saw under the return wing description. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. Make sure not to let the entire party get wiped, and keep a return wing handy in case of emergencies." Nanami says, looking at them seriously.

"Give me two return wings." Togami steps up aside Naegi, nearly shoving him aside, slapping a sack of coins on the table.

Nanami blinks at the coin sack Togami just slammed on the table. "Oh...don't worry, I'll get to you soon. I'm still helping Naegi-kun." She turns to Naegi. "One return wing, oil bottle, and ten throwing knives?"

Togami glares. Fukawa looks like she's about to pull her mace out. Naegi kind of shrinks away towards where Kirigiri stands. Kirigiri looks on impassively, if with a hint of amusement at Nanami's nonchalant refusal of Togami.

"Y-yes, here's the money," Naegi says quickly, and he lays his coins on the table, while Kirigiri brings out the coins from her pocket and sets them down next to his. 

Nanami brings over a white, feathered pin, a bottle filled with clear substance, and the belt with throwing knives, placing them on the counter in front of Naegi.

"Thank you for your business!" Nanami smiles. 

"Thank you for all the help!" Naegi smiles back. "Uh, how do we use this wing thing?"

"Oh. It's easy, you hold it up in the air like you're trying to reach the sky, and say 'Retuuurn!'...." Nanami poses in front of them from behind the counter. "....Like that."

"O-okay, sounds simple enough. Thanks again!"

Nanami nods at him as Naegi scoots away from the counter to the entrance, with Kirigiri following him. They wait at the entrance as Togami and Fukawa finish their shopping; they end up purchasing two return wings and two potions, which seemed sensible.

"Thank you for your business!" Nanami bows curtly, before she yawns and stretches.

As Togami and Fukawa turn to leave the counter, Naegi approaches them. "S-so, Togami-kun, Fukawa-san, wanna come with us? We're gonna check out the roadside plants. Since the rabbit you guys encountered is pretty strong, maybe we'll try to defeat more weaker enemies to gain levels. I...I think we really should stick together, especially if it's dangerous if everyone in a group gets incapacitated," Naegi says.

Togami glares at Naegi for a moment.

"Hmph." Togami adjusts his glasses. "It would be wiser to travel together."

"Alright, then! Let's go!" Naegi says. He turns to leave the shop, bidding farewell to Nanami as the others follow.

***

"Which one should we get?"

Naegi and Kirigiri are back at the dusty path they had taken on the way to town, which was littered with foliage. Togami and Fukawa stand by the side of the road, watching with passing interest and impatience.

"Out of all of them, I find paralysis to be the most potentially flexible," Kirigiri kneels down next to a feathered plant. 

"How long is this going to take?" Togami asks, his arms crossed, tapping his foot.

"Uh, a few minutes at most I think," Naegi says. Kirigiri takes hold of the stem of one of the feathers, pulling it out, and drops it feather-side first into the clear oil in the bottle. The feather sinks slowly into the viscous oil before settling. 

After a few seconds, the feather appears to dissolve entirely, and the liquid changes immediately as they watch, becoming like the color of honey.

"Oh wow, that was quick," Naegi gapes at the bottle as Kirigiri holds it. He shuffles with the belt he had added to his waist and pulls out one of the throwing knives. "We're supposed to be able to dip the knives in this right? Okay, I'm gonna try putting one in."

Holding the small, grey, triangle-bladed knife by the handle, he lowers the blade into the oil and pulls it out.

The blade came out dry, but now was a solid dark-yellow rather than the grey steel color it had beforehand.

"Huh, okay that seemed to have done something," Naegi turns the knife around, inspecting it, noting the entire blade's color had changed uniformly.

"If only there were something we could test it on," Kirigiri looks about, although nothing aside from plantlife and the four of them seem to be around.

"Maybe we could go back to the cave and find one of those blob things," Naegi says. "It'd be a good idea to try to gain some uh...XP in the process."

***

The cave wasn't too far away from where they were.

"Hm. It's just like the one we came from," Togami comments.

"The c-c-creativity of whoever made this world is wanting," Fukawa mutters.

Naegi tries to go in, but encounters an invisible wall. ...And somehow, at this point, this wasn't surprising to him anymore. A screen pops up in front of him.

[Wow, why the heck d'ya wanna go back to tutorial land? To get XP from defeating weak enemies so you can steamroll everything else? No way we'd let you do that, Upupupupupu!! No grinding anywhere in this game, you should thank me! Everyone hates grinding! - Despair King]

Naegi stares at the message for a moment before sighing. The other three come up behind him to get a closer look.

"...Looks p-pretty on-brand for this c-c-crazy place..." Fukawa mutters.

"Hmph. Is this meant to be a challenge?" Togami doesn't look entertained.

Kirigiri, on the other hand, can't read the message, but chooses to remain silent  ~~ to pretend she knows what's going on, since there is absolutely no way she's letting Togami and Fukawa know that she's illiterate. ~~ She gives Naegi a meaningful stare that says, 'Please explain, Naegi.' 

Naegi gets the hint.

"I-it seems we aren't allowed to go back and defeat weak enemies to get XP. The message seems to imply we won't be able to farm XP at all," he says. "Normally in games, you fight weak enemies a bunch of times to 'level up' and become stronger to make harder encounters easier, but I guess we can't...do that...?"

"...It seems moving forward is our only option, then. We should be thankful this roadway on the way to the cave is at least accessible," she says.

"Yeah...I guess the forest would be our next stop then," Naegi says. 

***

"If any of us get incapacitated, we should use a return wing," Naegi says.

"You don't need to tell me what to do," Togami scoffs. "That would be obvious."

As they walk towards the forest, Naegi can hear the steps of Togami and Fukawa behind him, the bells on Togami's hat jingling with every step, and Fukawa's armor clanking as she walks. 

_Jingle_

_Clank_

_Jingle_

_Clank_

That sound would probably attract a lot of attention, wouldn't it...? Hopefully there weren't any enemies waiting to leap out at them nearby.

The dust path soon ends, with the trees becoming thicker. He's suddenly acutely aware of the trees in front of him having a rather odd color, almost as if the trees slowly began to lose color the further they walked.

_Jingle_

_Clank_

....

....

...?

Naegi and Kirigiri turn around at the same time.

"They're...not behind us," Kirigiri says.

"Wait, what--where'd they go?" Naegi looks around frantically. 

Togami and Fukawa are nowhere to be seen. 

"Togami-kun!!" Naegi shouts. His voice seems to fade out quickly in the damp air of the forest. He turns to Kirigiri, looking perplexed. "...They were right behind us!" 

"...Yes, they were."

"Should we go back?!"

"...Yes."

Naegi and Kirigiri start back the way they came. 

They don't get very far before Fukawa appears seemingly out of nowhere in front of Naegi.

"AAH--!"

"AAAH!!"

They both screamed.

Togami's also there, right behind Fukawa. Naegi feels immense relief.

"Tch, there you are. What is the meaning of this?" Togami looks irritated, and just a tad unsettled.

"You guys just...disappeared!!" Naegi gestures into the air.

"You two were the ones that disappeared," Togami states.

"Y-yeah, you were in front of us, and then...g-g-gone...!" Fukawa stutters. "Honestly a little d-disappointed you came back, w...was starting to enjoy some more alone time with my Byakuya-sama..." 

"Hold on," Kirigiri says. "Let me try something." 

Naegi and the rest turn to look at her. She takes a step backwards. 

Fukawa and Togami both suddenly disappear from her view, although she can still see Naegi. 

"Oh!! They're gone!" Naegi glances around.

"...So it seems."

Kirigiri steps forward again, and Togami and Fukawa both pop back in the same locations they had been standing.

"Wha...what's going on?" Naegi stares at Togami and Fukawa. "It's not letting us stay together...? Aren't we in a party?"

"Hmm..." Kirigiri looks at the floor where she was standing.

Suddenly, just next to Kirigiri, a spotlight shows down from the heavens, and an odd bouncing sound effect emits from the center of the spotlight. She shifts away quickly, and from the ground at the center of the spotlight rises a monochrome bear, standing upright, with both arms held up vertically in the air above its head, and one foot lifted to its side, as if it were doing some type of ballet pose. It looks as if it phased through the floor, and after its entire body comes into view, it stands motionlessly for a few seconds.

"...Uh...who are you...?" Naegi asks.

"Ta-dah! Your wonderful game moderator Monokuma has arrived!" It does a little twirl, before continuing. "You guys really are clueless. You're in friggin' separate parties right now, dunces. You gotta switch party members at the  _Inn._ "

Togami scoffs. "All other buildings in town are locked."

"Yup." Monokuma has both hands on its hips. "So you're stuck with your initial party assignments! Upupupu!! Have fun kiddos!"

"Wait--" Naegi holds out a hand just as Monokuma hops and seems to simply fall through the floor, the spotlight promptly disappearing.

Naegi blinks. "...Okay." 

"I see, so Naegi-kun and I are in a separate party from you two. I assume you two are in a party with Asahina-san," Kirigiri says. "It's unfortunate; it seems we won't be able to travel together for the time being."

"Then we go our separate ways for now. We can start investigating the town in earnest. I assume one of the locked buildings in town is the Inn." Togami says.

"C-can we handle this alone?" Naegi looks at Kirigiri nervously.

"I suspect important information can be found at the Despair King's castle; it would be worth investigating. If necessary, we have a return wing."

Although he looks a bit uneasy, Naegi steels his expression with determination and nods.

"We'll be on our way, then, Togami-kun, Fukawa-san...!" Naegi says.

Togami gives them a curt nod, and Naegi and Kirigiri step into the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on classes / skills used:  
> Nanami (Shopkeeper): She takes care of the Item Shop in town. She was using her special skill, "Sleeping on the Job". Someone get her a PSP.  
> Fukawa (Paladin): She's a "tank" class, meant to attract attention of enemies to herself to protect other party members. Not sure how interested she is in doing it for anyone aside from Togami, though.  
> Naegi (Thief): Tried to use steal while in shop, which woke up Nanami. Thanks, Naegi.  
> The key in the shop'll be important later.


	5. Chapter 5

The trees began to grow thicker up ahead, a visible, light mist hanging low over the tree tops.

As they approached the denser part of the forest, the sight was jarring. The leaves are green, as would be normal, although the trunks of the trees all have half-white, half-black patterning, vertically split down the center of an arbitrary part of the trunk. It's an odd sight; a misty white haze and a layer of green sitting atop vertical black and white gratings. The trees and haze expand as far as the eye can see in the thicker part of the forest. In the midst of the haze above the branches, a dark, foggy image of a tower stands. That must be the castle Asahina was talking about.

"Ready?" Naegi turns to Kirigiri, pausing just at the clearing before the forest thickens.

She scans the trees with a wary glare. Asahina was right to comment on the forest as being somewhat...unsettling. Even with the knowledge on plants that she supposedly had, there was nothing about the trees that she could discern. Perhaps they were not natural vegetation.

Kirigiri turns to Naegi. "It's likely I'll be on the frontline of battle. It might be better if I gave this to you for now, Naegi-kun." Kirigiri hands Naegi the return wing.

Naegi hesitates before he takes it. "You're probably right. When should I use it?"

"I'll leave it to your discretion. However, I would think if I am incapacitated, that would be an appropriate time."

"A-alright." Naegi bites his lip, and pulls out one of the paralysis-imbued throwing knives. "You should take one of these, then, just in case." He meets her gaze. "I won't let you get incapacitated," he says firmly.

She pockets the throwing knife and steps in front of him. "I'll be counting on it. Let me take the front from here on." Kirigiri starts walking forward.

"Alright. I'll keep watch behind us," Naegi follows her. He makes one last glance back towards the less creepy part of the forest before he follows Kirigiri further in.

When they cross the threshold, the temperature drops noticeably. The smell of vegetation is thick and damp. Walking through the black-and-white forest is somewhat disorienting, as endless arrays of vertical black and white bars pass them as they advance. Thankfully, the tree covering never became thick enough for them to lose sight of the tower. They maintained their path in a relatively straight line for the tower, and before long, they see a black wall in the distance.

"We're close." Kirigiri's pace slows down.

Naegi blinks, looking around. "I haven't seen anything that looks like a rabbit so far."

They walk closer to the wall, they notice it rising meters high, with the building behind it. The wall is relatively featureless. The building itself, however...

"Is that supposed to be a castle? It looks more like uh...a skyscraper building. In fact it sort of looks like a bigger version of our school. I mean, look at the where the windows are," Naegi looks up at the tower.

"You're right." Kirigiri looks up at the building, a central tall tower flanked by two symmetrical outcroppings. "It's quite likely that there are ties between this world and our own."

"Hmm...you mean that whoever did this knows about our school?"

"Indeed."

Kirigiri approaches the wall and runs a hand over it; it's curved and smooth, with little in the way of allowing someone to climb the wall.

"Judging from the appearance of the building from this angle, and based on our school's architecture, we may be facing the backside of the building." Kirigiri gazes back down at the wall. "Entering through the back door may be prudent if we can find one, although this wall looks to be difficult to scale."

Naegi pulls out one of his throwing daggers, and tries to stab it into the wall. It slides off in the direction of the wall's curve without so much as a scratch.

"Aah--! Uh, okay. The wall seems pretty sturdy. And kind of slippery."

"Step back," Kirigiri says. She pulls out her axe from behind her, winding back the blade to her side, and braces. With a twist of her torso, she swings the blade of her axe in a horizontal motion. It collides with the wall--

*TONNGGGG*

A loud sound reverberates, the axe stopping suddenly when it meets the wall. It doesn't bounce back, nor does it make a dent. Kirigiri visibly stiffens, fighting off a shudder when the force of the swing is sent back through the handle of the axe.

"Kirigiri-san! A-are you okay?"

Kirigiri draws in a breath, and wordlessly pulls the axe back and places it in its holster, massaging her hands and flexing the soreness out of her wrists.

"...Yes. Doesn't seem like this'll work. Let's look for another entrance, then."

They follow the wall closely, slowly circling the building. The tower was huge; it seemed to be at least twice as large as their school building originally had been, and maybe several times taller. It was impossible to see the top past the fog hanging low above them. Before long, they see the wall sprout forward into what was probably the entrance. They pick up their pace.

The entrance is just in sight when they hear leaves rustling in the background, and they both immediately turn.

They spot a creature about a meter tall, standing on a nearby tree branch. It has small, pointy ears, a long tail, large feet, and a smooth rotund body. It has no fur; it looks almost as if its body were made with rubber. Like all the trees in the forest, it was half white, half black, vertically split down the center. It eyes them with a red eye and a beady, black eye.

"I-it's the rabbit!"

"....Its ears are rather small for a rabbit, Naegi-kun."

It jumps from the tree and lands with a plop by the trunk of the tree it had stood on.

"See it jumps! It's a rabbit!"

"Naegi-kun..."

"...Sorry. But I can see Asahina-san thinking this is a rabbit."

The 'rabbit' growls and leaps towards Naegi, who was the closer of the two, and Kirigiri springs forward, hand gripping her axe. The rabbit was in the air, which meant that changing directions for it would be much more difficult; this was a chance for a first blow, much like their earlier encounter with the blob in the cave. She pulls the axe out and throws her body into the swing towards the creature.

That was when the creature lands a foot on the flat edge of the axe, and bounds off of it. Kirigiri's world shakes a bit for a moment when it promptly proceeds to bound off the back of Kirigiri's head.

Wait, the floor is coming. Really, really fast. She removes one of her hands from the axe to stop her fall.

"Oomph--!"

*CLANK!*

Her arm just barely stops herself from faceplanting into the floor, while the axe slams flat on the ground, still in the grip of her other hand.

Right, should have known, this thing was supposed to be fast. But was that small creature really that heavy?

She quickly turns to look behind her, spotting the creature approaching Naegi.

"Naegi-kun!"

He had pulled out his knife in one hand and held it out as threateningly as he could towards the creature, while his other hand hovered over the belt of throwing knives. The creature is baring its teeth, looking ready to pounce.

It springs towards Naegi, aiming its feet towards him. Naegi urgently ducks to the side at the last moment, just barely getting out of the way, and the little ball of rubber speeds past him and collides with a tree.

The sound of splintering wood echoes throughout the forest. They both notice the creature had just tore a hole through the trunk of the tree, clean through the middle of the split between the trunk's white and black half.

Kirigiri shoves herself off the ground, pulling the axe up with her.

"Naegi-kun! I'll distract it. Don't miss," Kirigiri says. She taps her waist and gives him a meaningful stare, before she runs past him in the direction the creature had gone.

"Miss? Oh!" Naegi fumbles with his belt, pulling out a throwing knife.

Kirigiri runs toward the tree that had a hole in it, scanning for where the creature was.

It wasn't easy. The entire forest was a visual nightmare of vertical black and white gratings due to the coloring of the trees, with the creature itself being black and white, camouflaging quite well. After a moment, she spots the red eye of the creature just on the other side of the damaged tree, right as it turns to face her. She brings her axe up, and the creature braces.

*CRRACK*

She rams the axe head into the tree next to her, causing the entire tree to topple over towards the creature. The tree slams in the forest floor, as the creature scuttles quickly out of the way. Before the creature can regain its bearings, she quickly repeats the same with another tree nearby.

The fallen trees created a horizontal grating, which stood out in stark contrast to the creature's vertical line pattern when it was grounded. Upon seeing this, Naegi immediately understood what she was doing. With the target standing out, he'll have a much easier time hitting it.

He readies a throwing knife in hand and focuses, locking his eyes onto the creature's shape. He begins to feel the familiar sensation of time slowing down.

The creature, fed up with all the trees Kirigiri was sending toppling its way, leaps towards her, and she swings. Naegi watches as the creature repeats what it had done earlier, leaping off of the axe's flat side. It looks to be trying to land on her head again. He was waiting for this moment.

*FWWWWT--*

With a flick of the wrist, the knife flies through the air towards the space above Kirigiri's head.

*THUNK*

Just as the creature disappears from her sight, Kirigiri hears a noise from right above her. Turning, she finds the creature lying next to her, twitching spastically, a knife embedded on its side. She smiles internally, feeling an odd sense of pride from what Naegi had accomplished. She then blinks and gazes at the creature before her mirthlessly, raising her axe.

*CCRRKKKK*

She cleaves the creature in two.

Naegi runs up to her, out of breath. "It's--...we did it?" He sees Kirigiri turn to him with a subtle smile, and spots the creature's pieces lying on the floor, starting to disintegrate. He gasps. "We--we did it!!"

"Hm." She lets out a short chuckle in acknowledgment. "Well done, Naegi-kun." She watches him bend down to the creature's bisected body, where the knife he had thrown laid.

"I wonder if we can reuse these..." he picks up the throwing knife, which had gone back to its former gray coloring.

"It seems to be intact," she observes.

"Maybe we can just dip it again--" Naegi begins, when he is interrupted by a loud voice coming from above.

"AVRIL LAVIGNE, my minion has been defeated!"

They both turn immediately to the voice, who continues speaking.

"What happened!? There was supposed to be a huge level gap!"

The sound of rushing wind accompanies a figure's sudden appearance in one of the upper branches of a nearby tree. The branch creaks just slightly as the figure moves into a standing position.

"Heh. Looks like it's up to me to stop you two, then."

With that said, the figure leaps, rising high into the air with a twirl, where a light shining through the forest canopy reflects off the metallic surface of an elongated, pointed weapon. The figure began falling in a corkscrew at high speed towards Naegi, the weapon pointed towards him.

"Naegi-kun! Move!!" Kirigiri shouts.

"WHOA--!" Naegi leaps out of the way just barely in time as the figure crashes into the floor. The impact sends bits of dirt and uprooted grass flying in the air, the shockwave knocking Naegi straight off his feet. Kirigiri braces herself, raising an arm to protect her face from the dirt flying outwards from the impact point.

Naegi spins around to get a closer look at their attacker. They were short, with a round, stubby nose, and based on what he had said...

"...H-Hanamura-kun!?"

A small figure got up in the center of the impact, facing to the side, grip on a lance still embedded in the floor. Now that they were in closer, Kirigiri recognizes the unmistakable face of Teruteru Hanamura, Ultimate Chef from the upper class. He wasn't wearing his usual chef apparel, however; the light filtering through the branches reflected on the blue sheen of his armor, with a helmet that resembled the maw of some type of...reptile. She quickly scans over his armor; face is exposed, his underarms are exposed, and the back of his knee is exposed; all other areas were covered with a blue plating.

He turns to them. "Yes! It is I, Teruteru, and your journey has come to an end! Heh. Finally got to say the thing." he yanks out the lance and readies his stance.

"...Why are you wearing a lizard?" Kirigiri asks.

"It's not a lizard, it's a DRAGON! I am a _Dragoon!_ " He spits, pointing his weapon towards her. "And you're not getting into Despair Castle!"

Kirigiri glances towards Naegi. He was fumbling with his belt, likely readying another throwing knife; he had the same idea as her. 

She readies her axe and steels herself. They had nine aces, with one being held by herself; only one would need to land its mark. For now, she needed to keep his attention on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They managed to defeat something of much higher level than them by using status effects, low % strats 101.  
> The rabbit-but-not-rabbit creature is based off the "Monokumantala" enemy from the "Despair Dungeon: Monokuma's Test" minigame in V3. These things are almost impossible to hit with a character that has low Agility rating.
> 
> Notes on skills used:  
> -Teruteru (Dragoon): Jump skill. He's opposing our glorious heroes.  
> -Naegi (Thief): Throw Dagger  
> -Kirigiri (Barbarian): Cleave (on both the wall, unsuccessfully, and on the trees)


	6. Chapter 6

Keeping Hanamura's attention on herself was a lot simpler than she thought it would be; it seems Hanamura's pretty intent on chasing her around. Ever since he showed himself, aside from the first attack directed at Naegi, he's been aiming for her for these past few minutes, and she's been able to keep out of the way by merit of her own ability to leap that she discovered earlier in their encounter with the giant blob.

Even so, he's fast. In a particularly close shave, Hanamura leaps into the air with high speed and kicks off a high tree branch above him, spiraling towards her, lance pointing forward, and she just barely jumps out of the way in time. They way he spins during his jumps made him very difficult to target for Naegi, who had been darting about the scene trying to get a good angle to land a hit on him.

The impact of his lance from his latest dive was markedly larger than previously, and an aftershock of air pressure flies out, forcing her to brace with an arm against a nearby tree, the axe planted in front of her perpendicularly to the direction of the wind to keep the weapon's head taking on the air shockwave head on. She grips it tightly for support as her hair billows backwards, air flying past her, and she notices for the nth time that Hanamura is squinting hard in her direction. She always assumed it was to keep track of where she was, but given how close the shave was this time, she was now close enough to tell where he was looking.

He wasn't really looking at  _her,_ per se. No, more like further down.

Down to where her loincloth was also flapping in the wind.

...

_...Sigh._

That would probably explain why he was so dead set on attacking her, and why he'd immediately crane his neck to look in her direction upon landing from every single dive. Nothing was showing, thankfully. 

Hanamura looks a bit disappointed. From his crouching stance, he leaps into the air once more, and directing another corkscrew fall towards Kirigiri. He wasn't giving up easily, was he?

Judging the trajectory of the dive, she immediately leaps upwards and backwards, making sure to leap away from Naegi. Given the most vulnerable exposed area in his armor was behind his knee, she wanted to try to keep his back exposed. 

As he lands where she had formerly been, he shoots a gaze up at her while she's still in the air, and she quickly rotates herself so her feet are pointing away from him. She grimaces internally; he wasn't even trying to hide the degenerate excitement on his face.

Her feet make contact with a tree behind her, and she kicks off it, brandishing her axe, aiming to drive him back. She crashes into the floor, and as expected from his speed, he dodges quickly with a leap backwards. What wasn't expected was that he leapt not once, but twice.

"Oh!? Careful there!" his second leap dodges a throwing knife that whizzes past him and lodges into another tree in the vicinity.

Naegi, who had thrown the knife, grits his teeth. Hanamura turns to him.

"I saw everything that happened to my dearest minion! Did you really think I'd fall for the exact same thing?" He smirks. "Let me show you how to aim properly!"

With that, he hoists his lance over his shoulder, and takes a step back with one of his short, stubby legs, bracing. Before Kirigiri can stop him, he hurls his lance forward with nearly the weight of his entire tiny body in Naegi's direction. Naegi sees the lance flying straight at him and tries to move away, but before he could even blink, he feels his neck and chest pulled backwards.

Kirigiri forgets to breathe. 

The lance impales the hood of his cloak where his head had just been a moment ago, pinning him against a nearby tree.

Naegi turns to the lance just centimeters from his face, unsure whether to panic or to be relieved.

"Th-that was close!" Naegi shakes himself out of the initial shock and reaches for the lance. He tugs at it, trying to pull it out of the tree, fails, and then tries to tug at his clothing to undo the fastening on his cloak and rip himself free.

Hanamura lands suddenly in front of Naegi, rushing forward and pinning Naegi's chest to the tree with one arm as he grabs hold of the lance shaft with the other.

"Mmhmhm, you decided you wanted some first, huh? I could certainly start with prepping you up," he gives Naegi a sinister smile.

Naegi, looking terrified, grabs Hanamura's arm with both hands and struggles to get free, although despite the height difference, Hanamura was surprisingly strong. Naegi wasn't able to move.

Kirigiri had been watching the whole time with a mounting sense of urgency. She pulls out the paralysis-laced throwing knife Naegi had handed her. Naegi was the one who held the Return Wing, which was their emergency escape option; neither of them could afford him going down. Hanamura's back was facing her, and he was occupied with Naegi; she had to take the opportunity to act quickly.

Eyes on the back of Hanamura's knee, she grips the handle of the knife and raises the knife, the blade passing over her head in a small arc as she winds up for the throw, before her hand and wrist flick down and she lets the knife fly loose with an overhand throw, just as Hanamura yanks out the lance from the tree.

The trajectory looks to be on target. 

_Please, please hit_ \--

As luck would have it, a small branch falls from the tree that Naegi is pinned to, and hits the back of Hanamura's shoulder. He turns to look behind him, just in time to see the knife.

"Oh hoh!?" he leaps aside in surprise, just at the last moment.

"AGH!" Naegi screams. The knife embeds into the side of his shin.

Kirigiri sucks in a breath. If she were the type to curse, she'd be doing it now. But no time for that; she starts a desperate sprint towards Naegi. She tried her best to formulate a plan as she ran; at worst, the Return Wing was in his right pocket. He was still alive, the quicker she got there, the higher both of their chances of survival.

"Hoh! You can't wait, either? My, I didn't realize you were the impatient type. Worry not! After the  _mise en place_ I'll get right to you~" Hanamura raises an eyebrow at Kirigiri as she runs towards them.

Naegi falls forward, his muscles locking in place, landing with a thud face first into the floor. Unbeknownst to Hanamura, during Naegi's fall, the compartment on his belt holding the throwing knives collides forcefully with a rock jutting out of the floor.

Like a lever, the impact forcefully rotates the knife compartment and sends a knife flying out at high speed. 

The knife just so happens to be heading towards the back of Hanamura's exposed knee.

Kirigiri stares mid-run, eyes widening as she notices the knife, realizing what was happening. Hanamura, meanwhile, continues looking smugly at her.

Closer.

And closer...

*SHCKKK*

"--PARIS HILTTHTBGHHHGHHHAAAAAAUGH--!"

The knife penetrates the popliteal tissue just behind Hanamura's knee. He keels over, falling face flat on the floor in front of him.

Kirigiri arrives at the tree to a scene of two stiff bodies lying face down on the floor next to each other, both of them paralyzed.

"…...I can't believe this."

[Victory! You gained 500 XP. Level up! You are now Level 5.]

The screen pops up in front of her, and she blinks, staring at it blankly.  _Sorry, I can't read you,_ she thinks, although she assumes it was probably related to their strength and progression in this world, as Naegi had explained earlier. It shortly disappears.

Kirigiri looks down at Naegi, deep in thought. The paralysis should wear off with time, right...? But it would also wear off for Hanamura, and that would be less than ideal. She kneels down next to Naegi, flipping him around facing up. Without delay or hesitation, she pulls the knife out of Naegi's leg. Naegi lets out a muffled groan, but otherwise remains completely still.

"This should help," Kirigiri pulls out a potion vial and lets out a drop of the healing salve over his leg. Maybe it might cure the paralysis as well, she thought. 

The wound closes, although Naegi remains motionless. Well, was worth a shot.

"It seems we'll have to wait the paralysis out, although we can't afford letting Hanamura recover," she stands up, pulling the axe out. 

"I'll end this quickly."

Hanamura starts shaking ever so slightly as Kirigiri raises her axe, aiming to cleave his neck.

"W-wwwttttt--nnnn!!" Naegi starts shaking as well, catching Kirigiri's attention.

"What?" Kirigiri turns to Naegi.

"Nnnn...! Dnnnt...kllll..."

"...." Kirigiri pauses.

"...p-...pls..." Naegi whimpers.

"......Fine. But I still can't afford letting him recover, given that he poses a threat to both of us," she bends down next to Naegi, reaching for his belt.

"Sorry Naegi-kun, I'll need to borrow a few of these," Kirigiri pulls out a throwing knife.

"--thhnks...Krrgrr..." Naegi strains out through clenched jaws.

***

Kirigiri watches over the two, hawk-eyed. Ten minutes pass when Naegi begins to stir. 

"I...think...it's starting to wear off--"

At that, Kirigiri immediately stabs another knife into Hanamura's knee. Naegi winces from his position as Hanamura lets out a muffled yelp, which for some reason sounded somewhat excited. Best not to think too much about it.

"Can you walk?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine now," Naegi gets to his feet slowly.

"So why did you want me to spare him?" Kirigiri stares at him, her tone interrogative.

"Uhm, well, I dunno, I just think it would be...excessive? To kill him...? Maybe we don't need to kill him...?" Naegi looks towards Hanamura, who was still lying down with his face in the dirt.

Kirigiri stares. "That's not a very good reason, Naegi." She puts her hand on her axe's handle, stepping towards Hanamura.

"W-wait! Wait, Kirigiri-san! I think that we should bring him back to the others in town; we can decide together what to do with him. He might know something important, too, we should try to talk with him."

Kirigiri blinks. 

In any scenario, for her, investigation should be of utmost priority, and that means keeping him alive for interrogation. But now, she was almost overzealous in trying to resolve this with a kill. Why? ...Illiterate Barbarian? Was this an effect of her classing on her decision-making?

It certainly didn't help that Hanamura had eyed both Naegi and herself in a repulsively depraved manner. Maybe that was clouding her judgment.

But enough excuses. Either way, Naegi was right.

She takes her hand off her axe.

"That's a more reasonable answer, Naegi-kun. We'll just need a way to transport him. I don't suppose he would return with us to town if we used a return wing?" 

"N-no, unfortunately, I don't think he's in our party," Naegi says. He looks about, spotting vine hanging from one of the nearby toppled trees. "There's some vine lying around, so maybe we could tie him up."

Kirigiri nods. "We should err on the side of caution and bind him thoroughly, given the physical aptitude he's displayed so far." 

Once they had gathered a good quantity of vine, Kirigiri kneels next to Hanamura and picks up each of his arms, placing them on his back, winding vine in a repeated motion around the armored gauntlets. She then flips him over. 

Vine still in hand, she pauses. A rather indecent expression resides on Hanamura's face, and her sharp eyes catch drool at the edge of his mouth that she wished she didn't see. It took quite a bit of effort to keep her lips from curling in disgust.

"Naegi-kun."

"Huh?"

"Here, I'll let you finish tying him up."

"Eh? Oh! Okay," Naegi hurries over.

Naegi dutifully finishes tying him up, and as he does so, he muses that Hanamura's looking pretty sour-faced. That's honestly pretty understandable, given he's paralyzed and about to be tied up and taken someplace against his will. Maybe they'd be able to come to some sort of understanding and they won't be enemies…? They were acquaintances; he didn't really know Hanamura that well, but he was sure there'd be a reasonable explanation for why he was trying to stop them. He wraps the vine around him a couple extra times to be safe; Kirigiri had told him to make sure he's thoroughly unable to move.

By the time he's done, Hanamura looks like a yarn spool, his head poking out of a mess of vines wrapped around him. Vine is wrapped around his mouth, and an extra vine piece is tied around his feet so that it would be easy to drag him.

"Alright, done!" Naegi says.

Kirigiri approaches him from the direction of the tower entrance. 

"I just took a quick look around the entrance area. The entrance is certainly rather similar in appearance to Hope's Peak Academy. However, the gate usually present at the school building entrance is missing, and rather than three blue archways at the entrance, there is only a single set of large black-and-white double doors. Unfortunately, the door did not respond when I pushed or pulled," she says.

"--Hmhmhm--" the moment Kirigiri finishes speaking, Hanamura shakes, maybe at an attempt to giggle.

"Maybe he knows something" Naegi says.

"We'll find out soon enough. We can head back for now," Kirigiri steps towards Hanamura, picking up the vine, and then dragging him with the vine over her shoulder.

"I can help! I'll take one of the ends," Naegi rushes up to her and picks up Hanamura from the other side. They both head through the forest back in the direction they had come from, to join their friends back at town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hanamura (Dragoon): Javelin Throw [on Naegi's hood]; A Javelin throw is generally better used with an offhand or backup weapon, but Hanamura just did it with his main weapon because he felt like showing off. He also didn't have any other weapons on hand.
> 
> Naegi (Thief): Dagger Throw; the Thief's Dagger Throw is high accuracy and specialized for small weapons, although the stat and level difference was large enough for Hanamura to succeed in dodging it. As a side note, he also has some terribly ~~bad~~ good luck after Kirigiri hit him accidentally. I don't wanna overuse his luck schtick, but sometimes it just ends up being the perfect thing to make it work out; if it's overdone let me know.
> 
> Kirigiri (Barbarian): Weapon Throw; the barbarian Weapon Throw skill has higher power but tends to be less accurate than the thief's Dagger Throw skill. In exchange it technically can also be used for more and larger weapon types.


	7. Chapter 7

Dragging Hanamura's body through the forest, they eventually leave the monochrome section. Naegi takes special care to try to drag Hanamura in a way that avoided unnecessarily bumping over the undergrowth and tree roots throughout the forest, while Kirigiri drove forward without so much as a glance back. They finally reach the clearing where the forest opens out to the familiar dirt roadway with grass on the sides, and Naegi sighs in relief.

"We're almost there!" Naegi says. Hanamura grunts, tree branches sticking out of the crevices of his armor despite Naegi's best efforts. The buildings of Alpis sprout out in the distance, and they pick up their pace.

Passing by the shop building, the fountain in the town square comes into view. Togami and Fukawa, tall jester and shorter paladin, appear to be next to the fountain, and Hagakure is found sleeping nearby, having not budged an inch since they last saw him.

"We're back!" Naegi calls out.

Togami turns. "Took you long enough." He glares down at the wrapped up and squirming little package they were dragging behind them. "And what's that you have there?"

"It's uh...Hanamura-kun, from the upper class," Naegi steps aside, revealing Hanamura's body wrapped tightly in vine and trembling ever so slightly. "We ended up fighting him after the rabbit thing you guys mentioned, and uh...we got kind of lucky."

"So you've defeated the creature we've encountered, ended up finding Hanamura, and taken him prisoner."

"Yeah."

Togami shifts his glasses. "Hmph. Well then, you're not entirely useless."

At that point, the church doors burst open, and Asahina runs out of the doors, Oowada following.

"Naegi! Kirigiri-chan! You're back!" she runs, almost flying down the stairs, her scholarly robe flowing out haphazardly behind her, before she stops by Kirigiri. "I'm all better now!" she exclaims, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Heh, nothing I can't take care of," Oowada walks up with a more leisurely pace and arrives next to her.

Asahina starts gawking between Naegi, Kirigiri, and Hanamura's tied-up body.

"Wow, you guys have fives now? You used to have twos," Asahina blurts out.

Kirigiri and Naegi look towards Asahina, puzzled.

"Fives...?" Kirigiri asks.

"Yeah, you guys can't see it? Everybody has numbers floating next to them," she points at a space right above Hanamura, where there was nothing but thin air, "Whoa! He has a fifteen! I've been wondering, what does that mean, anyway?"

"Naegi-kun, are you able to see what she's referring to?" Kirigiri turns to Naegi.

Naegi squints towards where Asahina had been pointing. "I uh, can't see anything." He thinks to himself, they _were_ level 2 earlier when they first encountered Asahina. And they probably did level up during their previous victory.

"Maybe you're seeing our levels," he mumbles.

"Huh? What's a level?"

"It's sort of like uh...a measure of how strong you are, and it gets higher the more things you beat," he answers.

"What other numbers do you see, Asahina-san?" Kirigiri asks.

"Oh! Togami and Fukawa are twos, Hagakure and Oowada are ones." Asahina looks confused. "You mean nobody else can see it? It's right there!"

"I wonder...is this your class ability? Maybe Scholars can see levels of players or enemies," Naegi says slowly.

"Oh, huh. I guess that's kinda cool, then! Maybe I can be useful!" Asahina chirps.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier, you buffoon?" Togami stares down his nose at Asahina.

"What!? I'm not a buffoon!" Asahina puffs up indignantly. "I didn't know they actually meant something. I thought everyone could see them! I don't do numbers okay? Jeez!"

"M-muscle for brains," Fukawa mutters. Asahina shoots Fukawa a nasty look.

Kirigiri cuts in, "In any case, this will be useful information moving forward, Asahina-san." She turns to Oowada, her gaze searching. "And Oowada-kun, may I ask--why are you level 1? Didn't you come through a cave to arrive at town?"

Oowada blinks. "Cave? No, never been in any cave. When I first woke up, I was here." He turns to Hagakure, who is still asleep. "Was with him. He couldn't leave town, and when I tried to leave I'd always just end up back at this damn fountain right next to him."

"I see. Thank you for the clarification," Kirigiri says.

Hanamura squirms and his armor clanks against the stone floor, drawing a few eyes and prompting Naegi to speak up. "Right, so uh, we brought back Hanamura-kun here. We thought it would be a good idea to have everyone around to decide what to do with him," Naegi says.

Kirigiri speaks up. "Bear in mind, he tried to kill us. He explicitly tried to stop us from entering the tower, so I would say it's safe to assume he's working with who we regard as the enemy," Kirigiri says.

"Actually, how did you beat him? If he's 15 doesn't that mean he's really strong?" Asahina asks.

"Uhhh...." Naegi hesitates. "Long story short, it was an accident," he says.

"What, seriously? Hah!" Oowada laughs.

"I do have a few questions for Hanamura-kun myself. We can start off with questioning him," Kirigiri says, walking up to Hanamura. She reaches out and rips off the vine covering his mouth.

The moment the vine is off, Hanamura immediately yells.

"You'll never take me aliiive!!!"

The group is silent for a moment.

"But we did," Naegi says.

"...Oh. Right." Hanamura pauses, thinking. "You'll never open the way to Despair Castle! It'll open over my dead body!!" he yells.

"Ah yes, that reminds me. The doorway to the tower was locked," Kirigiri states, before stepping closer to Hanamura, towering over him. "Perhaps you might know the way to open the tower?"

Hanamura snickers.

"I already told you," he grins. "It'll open over _my dead body_!"

Oowada now steps forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Alright, ya damn bastard. Feeling like doin' this the hard way, huh?" he smiles mercilessly down at Hanamura's bound figure.

"W-w-wait! No, wait! I'm serious! It opens over my dead body! Like if I die! Incapacitated! Fully incapable of fighting!" Hanamura's words fly out in a torrent.

At that, Oowada pauses. The entire group feels the temperature drop a degree.

"Wait. We...we have to kill you?" Oowada looks hesitant.

"Hmhmhm...! You both spent all this time dragging me back here when you didn't even have to!" Hanamura giggles.

"What!?" Asahina gasps. "B-but, Fukawa-chan told us that if somebody dies, they might actually really...like REALLY really die!"

Fukawa stares at Hanamura in horror, a shade paler than she formerly was.

Togami's glare had not budged, however. "And?" He crosses his arms, tilting his chin up, still staring down at Hanamura. "Then it's simple. We kill him, and maybe we can find out if that indeed is the case."

"Wait, Togami-kun," Naegi instinctively steps in between Togami and Hanamura. He glances at Hanamura, who had a sinister smirk on his face. It didn't sit well with him, how enthusiastic he was about being killed.

Togami wasn't entertained. "I'm not interested in wasting any further time in this ridiculous place. Fukawa, do it."

"Wh-wh-wh--" Fukawa starts spluttering.

"What?!" Asahina exclaims.

"Wait, I don't think we should--" Naegi turns to Fukawa, worried.

"Do it," Togami's fixates his glare at her. Fukawa begins shaking, and if possible, she's even more pale than she was a moment ago.

"Tch, you bastard, putting pressure on her!? Who do you think you are?" Oowada exclaims.

"Hm. It's worth testing, no?" Togami looks unfazed. "And I lack the weaponry to do it myself."

Kirigiri's voice cuts in through the chaos.

"Hold on. I still have some questions for him," she says.

The tension in the air dies down just slightly, although it still simmered.

"Hanamura-kun," she continues, "I'm curious about the other person that we had a small scuffle with before we encountered you; are they affiliated with you?"

Naegi looks at Kirigiri, confused. Was there another person...? Did Kirigiri see someone else? He wasn't sure, so he kept quiet.

Hanamura looks similarly surprised. "Wh...what!? I thought nobody else was supposed to come! The Despair King gave the duty only to ME!"

"Hmm...? So there are others. That's only to be expected, but it's good you were able to confirm that for me," Kirigiri states. Naegi could swear she had a subtle smirk in her expression.

"Wait, what--P-PARIS HILTON!! I've said too much!" Hanamura screams.

At that, Hagakure stirs, disturbed from his sleep by all the commotion going on next to him. He gets up into sitting position, rubbing his eyes with the cuff of the tuxedo he still had on (what, was he again...a Class Skill Master, or something?), looking at the rest of the group blearily.

"Whuh...what's happening?" Hagakure asks.

Naegi, who happens to be standing closest to him, decides to answer. "Uh, we found Hanamura-kun, he tried to kill us, then we captured him and brought him here, and we're trying to figure out what we should do," Naegi says.

"Huh? Wait...he tried to kill you!?" he exclaims.

"Y-you should just go to sl-sleep again. You're n-not going to be of much use anyway..." Fukawa mutters.

Hagakure stares at Hanamura with terror, recognizes he's bound, and then calms down.

Suddenly, a giant screen pops up in front of Hagakure, scaring him again.

"WH-WHAT NOW!? The spirits! NO! They're coming for me!" Hagakure covers his eyes and deploys fetal position.

Text appears on the screen in front of Hagakure, which was large enough for Naegi to see from how close he was.

" _Enemy NPC in vicinity! Engage disarmament_...?" Naegi reads. There's a small confirm or cancel dialog underneath the question. "Wait! Hagakure, uh, you should read the text in front of you. I uh, don't think these spirits are harmful."

"...What?" Hagakure peeks from his curled-up position, and sees the confirmation box in front of him.

"Eh? What? Disarmament? What's this?" Hagakure sits up, curious about the text box now. "Oh wow, I never actually noticed there's text on these."

Naegi wasn't sure what to say.

"They say it's bad to make eye contact with spirits directly. They could curse you for life!" Hagakure says. "...But I guess these aren't really the same, huh."

Hagakure eyes the confirm button floating in front of him. "Hmmm, I wonder what this does." Without any further thought, presses it.

The screen in front of Hagakure disappears. Not long after, a blinding, round disc of white light appears under Hanamura's bound body, so bright that it envelops his body entirely in a column of light.

"Wh-what did you DO!?" Asahina exclaims.

"I don't know!!" Hagakure screams, confused.

The rest look on as the light brightens briefly, before it begins to dissolve.

In its place, Hanamura stands in the center, with the chef uniform they were familiar with seeing him in at school. All traces of the armor and weapon he had carried were gone, as were the bindings that were around him.

Oh...wait, his bindings are gone.

Hanamura stands there, blinking, his face blank, utterly confused at what happened. He then looks down at his body.

"HOH!? I'm free! I'M FREE! I'm outta here!"

Without further delay, Hanamura immediately sprints towards the edge of town before anyone could stop him.

Shooting straight in the direction of the forest they had come from with impressive speed, everyone else shakes off their initial shock and makes to chase him. Naegi himself was in the midst of running when he sees Hanamura slam into something, and falls on his rear end, just at the edge of a town building.

"OW!"

Naegi slows down as he gets closer, and another screen pops up in front of Hanamura.

[Town NPCs may not leave the town.]

Naegi slowly reads the text out loud while Hanamura stares at the words in shock, as do the rest of the students as they catch up.

"I'm...?" Hanamura says, words trailing off.

"An...NPC!?" Naegi finishes for him.

The gang stare at the message, while Kirigiri walks up to a shocked Hanamura, grabs his arms, and pins him to the floor.

Asahina looks at Naegi, confused. "Sorry, what's an NPC?"

"Oh. Non-player character, although I think in this case it means a non-combat character, like people who run shops in games. Nanami-san would also be one. And maybe Hagakure-kun and Oowada-kun might be this, I'm not sure," Naegi answers.

"Wait, does that mean he's on our side now?" Asahina asks.

"I don't know, maybe," Makoto says.

"M-my glorious armor! My dreams of conquest...!" Hanamura starts babbling incoherently. Kirigiri holds him fast.

"I suppose this means the door to the tower will now open? He is no longer able to fight," she says.

"I don't know, but it's worth checking," Naegi says.

Kirigiri looks down at Hanamura, and her gaze is drawn to a conspicuous piece of grey string hanging around Hanamura's neck that did not appear to be part of his usual chef attire. With a free hand, she picks up the string, pulling out what appears to be a small silver key from under Hanamura.

"What's this?" Kirigiri asks, holding the key to Hanamura's face.

"Huh? I don't know, never seen it," Hanamura says.

The rest of the group approaches Kirigiri to get a closer look. The silver key's head had a small design of a crescent moon on it.

Togami frowns. "That design looks rather similar to something we've seen while investigating the buildings." He looks towards town. "I'm quite certain the largest building's entrance had a keyhole with a very similar design."

"We should try it immediately, then," Kirigiri says.

"Sounds like a good idea," Naegi says.

The group proceeds to shuttle Hanamura towards the largest yet-to-be-accessed building in town, which stood by the fountain just next to the Church, and they arrive at the entrance door to the building. As Togami said, there was a silver lock mechanism underneath the door knob, with an engraved design matching the key's. The key wouldn't leave Hanamura's neck, given the string loop was too small to fit over his head, and too strong to break, so Kirigiri pulls the key up with Hanamura in tow and inserts it into the lock.

"Ow! Ow! Gently~" Hanamura yelps.

With a turn, the large, wooden-brown door opens, and before them lays a dark, empty reception desk, some type of foliage at either side, and a dimly visible staircase just behind the desk. A quick glance around the room showed there were two hallways on either side.

"Oh! You must be the innkeeper, then!" Asahina exclaims, looking at Hanamura.

"Huh?" Hanamura stares blankly at the room before them.

Then Hanamura suddenly appears to pop out of existence. Kirigiri stares in perplexion, having just been holding Hanamura tightly in her grip.

"AAAH! Gh-ghosts! They've taken him away!" Hagakure screams.

As if on cue, a light in the left hallway lights up, and a large sign above the hallway illuminates itself.

" _Restaurant...?_ " Naegi reads. He moves towards the hallway, the rest following behind him. They find a rather nice set of eight cozy wooden dining tables with four chairs each, and Hanamura standing with his face just barely poking over what appears to be a bar counter top at the back end. He's blinking, confused.

"Oh...huh, I guess he's not the Innkeeper, then...?" Naegi says, looking back towards the reception desk, which was still empty.

Hanamura looks around him, and finds a door behind him. He opens it and takes a glance inside, and suddenly breaks into squeals of delight.

"OHHH, Ohohoh!" He disappears into the room, incoherent rambling heard by the rest of the gang still standing by the entrance of the Inn ("This Oven!...Hmhm, Steam Table, top of the line...!...Walk-in-cooler...fully stocked...!..."). After a brief period of time, Hanamura reappears, looking immensely pleased with himself.

"Ahh, yes! I'll be happy to cook up anything you desire, hmhmhm!" he says.

Everyone stares at him for a moment. Kirigiri cups her chin with a gloved hand.

"Have any of us eaten since coming here? I'm aware that Togami-kun, Asahina-san, and Fukawa-san have been around for at least three days before us," she says.

"No..." Asahina responds dejectedly.

"Have you felt hunger?"

"...Oh. Actually no, not really," Asahina screws up her brow and tilts her head to the side. "Although I have thought I could really use a donut a couple times."

"N-n-now that you mention it, I completely forgot about eating with all th-this insanity happening..." Fukawa says.

"Indeed. I haven't eaten, nor have I felt any need to," Togami says.

"I see," Kirigiri nods. "So it appears that food is not mandatory in this environment."

"Yeah," Naegi says, "Now that I think about it, in a lot of games you don't need food, but they like...provide powerups and make you stronger for a little while. I think it wouldn't hurt to eat."

"Wh-what if he p-p-poisons us!?" Fukawa shoots a glare at Hanamura.

Hanamura in response puffs himself up. "I am the ULTIMATE CHEF! I would not dirty my craft with something as lowly as poison!" He scoffs.

"We could always just shove a bit down his throat first, heh," Oowada smirks.

"Should we have something to eat then? Maybe a break would be a good idea," Naegi says. The group looks at each other. The prospect of getting a chance to sit down and relax never occurred to them, and quite honestly, it was a welcome change of pace. The dim, comfortable lighting of the restaurant was rather inviting.

Just as the thought of winding down and relaxing was starting to settle, a distant scream rings through the air.

"Help...! Anyone--!?" The voice was coming from outside. It sounded like someone they knew.

"Maizono-san!?" Naegi turns immediately towards the entrance of the Inn, running out. The rest of the group quickly follows him out.

The voice is coming from the direction behind the Inn, where plains stretch out to the horizon. They could see a figure running down a hill with a slight limp towards them, clad in red and black armor, its clanking coming gradually into earshot. A...samurai?

No, wait, upon closer inspection, that was _Sayaka._ And two more figures appear behind her, both running apparently with difficulty, one with white and blue billowing, graceful robes with semi-transparent scarves streaming behind her, contrasting their dark hair. They were holding a rather large...something. The thing has a lot of strings arranged vertically next to one another...a harp...? And the other was a substantially larger hooded figure, wearing a dark purple robe, silver hair spilling out of the hood. Were they chasing Sayaka?

Oh, there's a fourth one, brandishing an enormous broadsword with silver armor and long, blonde hair streaming behind their helmet. Okay, maybe all three of them were being chased by this one. The latest person looks like the stereotypical knight type.

The knight is heard yelling, "Despair shall not wait, we shall conquer! Submit yourselves!"

...Yep, this knight was probably the one doing the chasing. All four of them are heading straight at them towards town.

Naegi tenses himself. It looks like a chance to relax would have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hagakure (Class Skill Master): Town Recruitment; He can change enemies' classes to town NPC roles. Yeah, Hagakure has an actually useful role, which slightly worries me. But I'm pretty sure he can't screw it up if all he has to do is press a confirm button. Probably.  
> Monokuma's feeling some despair right now at losing one of its pawns, but they're also kind of okay with that simply because it also involves feeling despair.
> 
> Asahina (Scholar): Scan (Passive); She has the ability to discern the properties of other characters around her. She's currently aware that the numbers that she sees next to each person is their level. The ability can develop as she grows. Here's praying she'll pay close attention to the details of what the skill is trying to tell her as she levels up.
> 
> Maizono (Samurai): I decided to give her a tank class. And given what happens to her in the first trial of the original game (involving a katana), the opportunity of giving a katana to her as her actual weapon was too good to pass up.
> 
> The other three newcomers aren't explicitly stated as to who they are, but I'm sure you could make some educated guesses. V:


	8. Chapter 8

The samurai runs across the grass with a limp, arriving at the group, and with not more than two shaky steps, she collapses to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Maizono-san! Are you okay!?" Naegi calls out, running up to her.

"Naegi-kun...!" Maizono gazes up at him, and the towards the rest of the group that were approaching. "Everybody...! Oh...I'm so glad you're all here..."

Kirigiri's eyes survey Maizono, noting that her skin looks paler than usual. She wore a rather gaudy helmet with two decorative golden horns protruding up from the front of the helm that quickly identified her as a samurai (that helm was a..kabuto, was it...?), with red and black plates covering Maizono's shoulders, chest, and hips. Her gaze darts towards Maizono's arm, which was holding her stomach tightly as her breaths heaved.

"You've sustained an abdominal injury?" Kirigiri asks.

"Ah...you noticed," Maizono says with difficulty. She moves her arm slightly, revealing blood covering a rather nasty looking gash that indicated an assailant had torn a hole right through the scales of her armor.

Naegi blanches at the sight of the wound. "Wait! You don't have to move. Oowada-kun!" Naegi shouts.

"Yo! I'm here," Oowada kneels next to Maizono. "Don't worry. I'm...uh, the doctor. Priest. Fix stuff like this," He starts inspecting the wound, pulling out a tome.

As they tend to Maizono, Kirigiri looks to the other two figures who were arriving, and the pursuing knight who was further back.

"Asahina-san," Kirigiri says, with a level tone.

"Huh?"

"What level are Maizono and those others coming towards us?" Kirigiri asks.

"Oh! Maizono is two," Asahina squints at the more distant figures. "The two closer ones are also twos, and the last one is...three...zero... _thirty?!_ Am I seeing this wrong?" Asahina squints a bit harder. "No, there's really a zero there..."

"Tch," Togami crosses his arms.

"Wh-what!?! Thirty's r-ridiculously high!" Fukawa blanches.

"Did you hear that, Naegi-kun?" Kirigiri calls out.

"...Yeah," Naegi stands up, eyes now trained upon the remaining people approaching.

The figure wearing the large purple hooded robe was the closer of the two. Menacing spikes were on their shoulder pads, and silver chains ran in intricate, interlocking patterns across their purple robe, with ornate decorations of yellow highlighting. Seems like they might be a warlock. The silver locks visible from the opening of the hood, combined with their hulking figure, were becoming unmistakably recognizable as they came closer.

"Sakura-chan!" Asahina exclaims, and she begins running towards her.

"Asahina!" Surprise and relief are visible on Oogami's face. Her face quickly hardens. "Wait! It's dangerous, our pursuer's martial prowess is not to be underestimated."

Not far behind, the other figure comes into view. They wore a full, multilayered blue and white robe, which opened into a fanning cape behind them below their waist. Scarves of matching color wrapped about their upper torso, their sleeves hanging as she clutches a stringed instrument. A pair of loose fitting white pants and white knee-high boots are secured by a beige-colored belt at their waist. It was a rather nice outfit, Naegi thought; it probably indicates a bard. Complimenting her rather graceful appearance is a dark, serious and rigid facial expression.

"M-Mukuro-chan!" Asahina gasps.

"Withdrawal was unavoidable; let's re-establish a defensive position quickly," Ikusaba speaks tersely.

Their pursuer calls out from behind them, "This is most fortunate! You have led me to your headquarters! I shall now proceed to root out the evil at its source!"

Naegi stares at the knight that stood before them.

"Y-you're..."

"Sonia Nevermind! Vassal of the Despair King!" she exclaims proudly. "I must say, the role of the knight who dispenses lethal justice on the front line is quite exhilarating," she says. The visor of her silver helmet is sitting up such that her face is visible, the rest of her body entirely covered by extremely heavy-looking silver metal plating. She holds a sword with its blade planted in the grass in front of her, the entire length of the thing reaching the middle of her torso; the sword looks huge. It didn't really look like her armor really had any weakpoints as Naegi scans over it, with the exception of the fact that her face was currently exposed. And now she just dropped the visor over her face. "Prepare for your comeuppance!"

Maizono shifts, trying to get up to move out of the way, while Naegi, Asahina, and Oogami step in front of Maizono instinctively, Ikusaba close by, while Oowada was still focused on trying to mend her deep wound.

Naegi pauses and quickly surveys the scene.

Scholar, warlock, thief, bard, and priest are standing closest to the frontline, protecting the samurai. Just behind him, he sees Kirigiri bracing herself, hand on her weapon, moving forward. Hagakure seems to have disappeared somewhere. Jester Togami and paladin Fukawa are hanging around the back. What? Wait, no, this wasn't right.

"Guys, this is wrong! We need to reorganize! Fukawa-san, you should be in front!" 

"W-w-what!? You j-just want to get rid of me! I d-d-don't want to die!!" she screams.

Before any further discussion could be made, Sonia moves towards the group gathered around Maizono, both hands gripping the handle of her blade. She breaks into a charge, the sword's tip dragging through the dirt, making a clean cut parting the grass, and she allows it to pull behind her, before she exerts tremendous force to bring the sword swinging in an upwards cleave at Asahina.

Oogami immediately jumps in the way, brandishing a metal wand that she had wrapped some of her own outfit's decorative chains around, the longer side pointing down towards her elbow, blocking the blow while supporting her arm with her other hand.

The force of the collision is overwhelming, pushing Oogami's arm back with sudden, unexpected strength, lifting her off the ground and causing an earsplitting crack as the force dislocates her shoulder joint and fractures her ulnar arm bone. She was still able to interrupt the blow from landing on Asahina, but she is thrown to the side, losing grip of the wand and falling to the side.

"Ugh!" Sakura grunts.

"Sakura-chan!!!" Asahina screams, running to her side immediately.

"I'm surprised you were able to take that blow, particularly as a Warlock! Commendable! But this must be done."

"AVRIL LAVIGNE, what is going on out there!?"

Hanamura's head pokes out of the window of the nearby Inn building, surveying the scene. He notes the golden hair coming out of the back of the knight's helmet.

"Wait, Hanamura-kun, stay in--" Naegi says, when Hanamura interrupts him.

"Hoh!? Sonia-san! What are you doing here? I thought you weren't supposed to go to town because they can uh..." He lowers his voice into a loud stage whisper, which all could hear anyway, "...gang up on you in town without the party restriction," he says.

Sonia turns to him and huffs.

"It would not do for a knight to wait idly by as my Majesty's enemies run rampant! I took it upon myself to pursue them in the name of righteous glory! ...And what are you doing in there? Come and assist me!"

Hanamura shakes his head. "No can do, miss, heartfelt apologies. I've discovered greener pastures~...And I'm stuck in here, anyway." And having said his piece, he promptly disappears from the window, presumably back to the kitchen.

"Well! Then I shall take care of them and liberate you!" She says.

"Please don't," Hanamura's distant voice calls out from the window.

"Hmph. Really, he's already forgotten his duty. I'll be sure to remind him properly," Sonia mutters to herself.

Kirigiri had taken the distraction as an opportunity, running across the perimeter of the field away from Sonia's line of sight. When directly behind her, Kirigiri turns her run forward and breaks into a leap, axe held above her head, eyes cold and fixated upon Sonia's helmet. She descends at high speed, aiming for a rather literal helmsplitter.

The axe comes down with the earsplitting sound of metal screeching upon metal, and Kirigiri encounters unexpected resistance. Her axe wasn't moving past the helm, which was sturdy in the face of the impact, although she was still moving forward, and she was in danger of crashing into Sonia and the back end of her axe at high speed. She twists her body in the air in an effort to avoid a collision, deciding to forego following through on the attack, instead shooting past the side of the axe, curling her body as she skids and rolls to dissipate her momentum, the axe having embedded into the floor next to her.

"Kgh..." Kirigiri props herself back up with an arm. 

"An impressive effort," Sonia steps in front of Kirigiri, raising her sword.

"No!" Naegi screams. He had been trying to find a place, any weakpoint where he could land a knife, but he couldn't. Without any luck, he resorts to charging forward. He arrives in time and shields her with his body.

Just before the sword is brought down, Ikusaba hooks her harp around the blade, catching the blade at the peak where resisting force would be most effective, slowing it down enough for Naegi to realize what was going on (he definitely didn't think that would be the right use for the harp, but he couldn't complain) and for Kirigiri to get up and pull both of them to safety.

"How honorable. And there are indeed quite a few of you, enough to pose an obstacle," Sonia says, turning to Ikusaba. Ikusaba immediately senses danger, and lets go of the harp to sidestep a backhanded fist from the heavy gauntlet covering Sonia's forearm. Her sidestep wasn't quite fast enough, however, and the level 30 knight's gauntlet grazing the level 2 bard's ribcage had enough impact to fracture and crumble a number of ribs on the affected side.

Ikusaba grunts, finishing her sidestep and putting as much distance as she can between herself and Sonia as she grits her teeth to bear the pain. From the damage she had taken, she knows that she definitely would not be able to survive a direct hit from her without any protection.

Sonia tilts the sword to let the harp drop to onto the grass next to where Kirigiri's axe lay.

"I'd like to finish what I started," she says, and makes her way towards where Naegi and Kirigiri stood.

Naegi swallows hard.

"Run towards the left. I'll head in the opposite direction; I can retrieve my weapon. She's likely going for me," Kirigiri says.

"What!? No, I can't just leave you," Naegi says.

Sonia steps forward. "Let us end this!" She swings horizontally towards Kirigiri. Kirigiri immediately notices Naegi try to step in to intercept it. _Oh no you don't_. She uses her superior strength and pushes him out of the way. In doing so, she receives a deep gash running across her back, letting out a barely audible grunt of pain, the pain bringing her to a knee.

"Kirigiri-san! No!!!" Naegi tried to think, but panic's setting in. What could he do!? She told him to run left. What was left? Fukawa-san...? As he tries to figure out what to do, Sonia raises her sword again, this time aimed at him.

A calm, arrogant voice calls out over the scene, accompanied with the jingling of bells.

"Hah. So this is what you call an 'honorable battle'?" Togami's voice cuts in. Maybe it was the fact that Naegi felt like he was about to die, but Togami's voice had a sort of amplified, sharp clarity that stood out.

Unexpectedly, Sonia stops. 

"And of what does the court jester speak?" she asks, turning to him.

"Hmph. What I'm seeing before me is a comedy even greater than a court jester could conjure," he says.

"What?"

"Your choice of opponent is pathetic," Togami raises his chain at her, and the baubles on his hat jingle for emphasis.

Sonia huffs. "I am merely fulfilling my duty!" She was looking visibly annoyed. The sharp quality of Togami's tone of voice was becoming more crisp.

"A duty for a worthless, inconsequential king," he says.

At that, Sonia, bristles. "You take that back!" Sonia starts marching towards Togami. It doesn't take long for her to arrive in front of him. Without hesitation she raises her sword, and brings it down. 

Togami himself doesn't flinch.

"N-NNOOooo!!!" Fukawa lets out a shriek, diving in front of Togami, taking the brunt of the attack. A flash of red, and blood violently splatters, the blade cutting cleanly through Fukawa's armor. Fukawa crumbles immediately, lying motionless on the floor. 

Naegi suddenly feels his blood run cold.

"Fukawa-chan!!!!" Asahina calls out. 

The others are silent, staring in shock. Togami hasn't budged, looking down his nose at Fukawa's body.

"Get up," he says.

A beat.

Silence.

Sonia turns to Togami. "She has been defeated. And soon, so shall you," she says.

Creaking metal.

Sonia turns to the source of the sound, which was the fallen body of Fukawa.

Naegi gasps. He watches as Fukawa's knees tent up as her back still laid on the floor, and then her body begins to lift off the floor starting from hips, torso, shoulders, then to head, slowly turning upright without the assistance of her hands.

When she reaches standing position, her tongue was dangling out of her mouth, and her eyes were red.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note on skills used this chapter: Most of the cast was using improvised attacks, since many of them aren't very comfortable with their class skills.
> 
> Kirigiri (Barbarian): Leap, but Sonia is too op for it to work, rip.
> 
> Sonia (Knight): Enhanced Armor - Temporarily increases physical defense, was used to essentially nullify the Leap attack from Kirigiri; Backhanded Blow - A swift, fist strike that can be used when unarmed or unable to use a weapon, was used against Mukuro when she stopped Sonia's sword. All other attacks have just been normal attacks rather than skills. They're pretty devastating because of the huge level gap.
> 
> Togami (Jester): Taunt. Charisma skills are in the Jester repertoire, and taunting allows him to draw the attention of enemies, and in this case, Sonia.


	9. Chapter 9

"H...how...?" Sonia gasps.

Fukawa rises from the grass back into a standing position before her eyes, after having just taken what looked to be a fatal hit from her. Her head hangs forward, a jagged chasm running diagonally down the front of her armor. The sword apparently sliced through centimeters of metal, leaving gaping curtains of metal iron framing red.

Upon closer inspection, due to the thickness of Fukawa's armor, her wound was not very deep; the bleeding was already starting to slow.

"...Oh? Isn't this a rude awakening," Fukawa was gazing at her own torso, running a hand over the crack in her armor. "This huge...gaping hole inside me!" She then takes interest in her hand--or more specifically, the metal gauntlet over her arm, turning it around, tapping the metal lightly. "What's this? Miss morose's been trying a new fetish? And my armor is cracked, my fragile, inner body exposed...!! Kyeehahahah! Where's the hunky man who's come to ravish me!?"

She looks up in front of her to see Sonia, holding a sword dripping blood, and her smile instantly drops.

"...Long golden hair, and that figure. Not the looks of a ravishing man. Well, that's mighty disappointing. ...But if you're askin' for a killin' with _such_ a statement like this," She throws her arms up, gesturing at her own armor, sliced cleanly open, "Then I guess I'll serve ya my own specialty," Fukawa starts fiddling with the belt of her armor.

Sonia takes a moment to shake off her surprise.

"I...I see! So this is what you mean by 'honorable battle'! Given you were capable of withstanding one of my blows, then you are indeed a worthy opponent. Very well! I shall fight you in the stead of your allies," she says.

Fukawa, meanwhile, is turning a heavy warhammer around in her hands, having just removed it from her belt. The hammerhead itself is a broad, thick slab of metal, a grid of raised sharp bumps at either flat side of the hammer, making it resemble an oversized meat tenderizer. The handle grip was covered with leather.

"The hell is this thing!?" Fukawa immediately tosses it to the ground beside her, and it hits the grass with a thunk. She fiddles furiously with the plate armor covering her legs.

Sonia makes to speak up, "E-excuse me--"

Not long after, the lower half of Fukawa's plate armor falls to the floor as well, exposing her legs.

Sonia stops, speechless. Naegi, who was still gawking at Fukawa, unsure what was going on, looks away in panic, and Asahina looks about to have a heart attack. Ikusaba and Oogami look on in wariness or surprise at Fukawa's change in demeanor. Oowada is too busy tending to Sayaka to notice, and Sayaka's eyes are shut tightly in pain. Kirigiri is as calm as ever despite her injury; she notes that Togami had suddenly disappeared from the scene rather hastily.

"F-Fukawa-chan!? W-w-what are you--" Asahina's voice squeaks, higher-pitched than intended. 

Underneath the armor is a leather kilt, thankfully. Naegi hesitates before he slowly turns back, realizing it's safe.

Fukawa turns to Asahina. "Hey! Lemme get this straight, waterjugs! I don't go by miss gloomy's moniker; no, no, this here's your friendly Genocider! They call me Genocider Jack, Jill, Syo, any of 'em, don't mind which."

"Wh-what...?" Asahina stares blankly.

Kirigiri sighs, deciding to speak up. "Multiple personalities. Genocider Syo is a known serial killer, and is Fukawa-san's other personality," Kirigiri says, her voice somewhat strained due to the pain from her injury, although her face was calm.

Sonia gasps and freezes, as the Genocider pulls up her leather kilt and exposes her bare legs. Naegi immediately covers his face with his arms and looks away again.

"Khhhhhhgh, my scissors--my scissors--where are my scissors!? They're always here!! I always go everywhere properly prepared for a piercing!" Genocider Syo furiously turns the undersides of her kilt around; nothing else was underneath, and there are no signs of any scissors anywhere.

"The...Genocider?" Sonia asks.

Syo's still fiddling and turning around inspecting the leather kilt. "Why yes, I believe we've gone over that already miss tin-hea--"

"Oh. My. Goodness!!" Sonia's sword drops with a thud onto the grass floor. In a flash, Sonia's in front of Genocider Syo, both gauntlets clamped over Syo's gauntlets.

"I have followed the exploits of many serial killers, and none are as amazing or fascinating as yours! I am your biggest fan!" Sonia exclaims, eyes sparkling as she beams at Syo.

"...What," Syo says dully.

"Please, let us discuss your murderous exploits!" Sonia continues.

"You mean the stabbing that's supposed to be happening now?" Syo asks.

"Oh! No, never mind that, there are more important things to discuss! I would much rather speak at length with you regarding your previous, most glorious killings that I've read about. There's an intriguing beauty in the feats you have accomplished," Sonia begins.

Syo pauses, glaring at Sonia in silence for a moment.

"...Kyeeehahahah! Somebody appreciates my meticulous, murderous arrangements. Can't say I saw that coming," Syo laughs.

Slowly, Sonia and Syo begin speaking. It doesn't take long for their conversation to pick up. Weapons and stripped armor lay forgotten on the grass field around them.

The topic they spoke about--gore, murder, and the arrangement of corpses--was starting to make Naegi rather uncomfortable.

"Uh...so..." Naegi begins.

Sonia turns to him, surprised. "Oh! I had nearly forgotten what we were doing!" She turns back to Syo. "Quite honestly, I find it in bad taste to fight the famed and wondrous Genocider; in fact I would very much like to work with you all."

_What._

Naegi wasn't sure what to say.

"I feel very lucky to have discovered the Genocider here. I see now why Hanamura-san has also joined you!"

_...Oh. Wait, what?_

"What was the process by which he was enlisted?"

Kirigiri watches with mild amusement as Naegi shakes the shock out of himself before he answers.

"R-right, the Class Skill Master should be able to help you with that. Hagakure-kun--? I think it's safe now," Naegi calls out.

A head of haphazard brown dreads pokes out the side of the building, scanning the scene.

"...Oh! Hey. Toges, it's safe now, we don't have to hide," Hagakure says, turning to someone out of sight.

"--!! Fool, don't let them know I'm here," Togami's voice comes from where Hagakure was.

Genocider Syo's head immediately snaps in Hagakure's direction. "OH!? Is that--the heavenly timbre of my Master's voice!?"

Immediately the sound of jingling can be heard heading further away, and the Genocider also sprints towards Hagakure, running right past him. Togami, and later the Genocider, appear out the other side of the building, and they disappear towards the church.

Deciding to leave what just happened be, Hagakure strolls up in his suit as far as he could before the cobblestone around the fountain ends. If he stepped further he knew he'd be pulled back to where the fountain was.

"Class Skill Master, at your service! It'll be 5 gold for an NPC change--" Hagakure says, right as a floating screen pops up in front of him ("Enemy NPC in vicinity! Engage disarmament?"). 

_Since when did that cost money?_ Naegi thinks.

Asahina looks like she really,  _really_ wants to say something, but holds her tongue. She resorts to sighing with exasperation instead.

"Oh! Of course, it is only right that you are compensated," Sonia produces from her armor a clinking bag, presumably filled with coins. She walks up to him, dropping the entire bag in his hands. "Don't worry about the change!"

Hagakure's eyes pop out at the sight, although he quickly coughs and recovers. "Yes, perfect, perfect! Thank you! Alright lessee here, NPC change coming up..."

Hagakure promptly presses the "Yes" button, and a circle of light in the grass draws itself around the Sonia's metal greaves, obscuring her entire figure in a column of white light.

The light soon fades, revealing an outfit that was much more familiar to the gang; Sonia's now wearing a green top half and thigh-length skirt, knee-high socks, a red bow on her chest, and matching red shoes.

"Ah, yes, this is rather comfortable," she says. "Now, I wish for you to take me to the royalty of this town."

"Huh?" Hagakure looks around to the rest of them, confused.

"The town's kind of empty," Naegi says, "I don't think we really have anyone who would count as uh...'royalty'."

"Is that so? In that case, I would be happy to take on the mayoral duties in town," Sonia says.

At that moment, from the window of the Inn, Hanamura pokes his head out of the kitchen window.

"Oh...? Sonia-san will be joining m--I mean, us--in town? Hmhmhm, that's wonderful news!"

"Indeed, Hanamura-san. You should come out here and help us tidy up this mess," she says.

"Uh...I'm not allowed to leave the restaurant, I tried earlier but I just end up back inside. Not that I mind, really," Hanamura says.

"Then I hereby decree that you are allowed full freedom of movement within town," Sonia says. "And come here, immediately!" She forcefully places an open palm down in front of her.

Hanamura instantly pops into existence in front of her, with a metal mixing bowl (that was empty) still in his hands.

"WHOA! Oh. Eh!? I'm outside of the restaurant!" Hanamura exclaims.

"Indeed, thank you for complying," Sonia says. She glances at the bowl in his hands. "Use that to take some water from the fountain and clean the blood off the armor and weapons lying on the floor."

"Th-that would be filthy! This bowl is reserved for cooking!" Hanamura gasps.

"Worry not, we can clean it afterwards," Sonia says.

As Hanamura grumbles, Naegi blinks. "...Wow, uh...it looks like Sonia-san can actually change the rules about what areas NPCs are restricted to," Naegi mutters.

Hagakure, hearing that, waves his arms frantically at Sonia. "Hey, hey! I need help too! I've been stuck near the fountain this whole time," he says.

"Of course! I shall give you full freedom of movement within town as well," Sonia says.

After she says that, she does the same palm down motion she had earlier. 

Hagakure stands still for a moment, waiting for something to happen. When nothing seems to have changed, he decides to step over the end of the cobblestone to where the grass was, and puts a foot down. Unlike what usually happens to him, he doesn't teleport instantly back to the fountain. He rejoices briefly.

Sonia surveys the people in front of her, many of which were injured. "I apologize for my actions earlier; we should quickly take the injured to a resting place," Sonia says.

"Ah...that would probably be the building Hanamura-kun came out of just now. That's the town's Inn. I'm not sure we have access to the bedrooms, though," Naegi says. He briefly thinks about whether he could use the potion he had to help quickly heal injuries, although he realizes that it's a limited resource so if they could conserve it, it might be better.

"We shall have access," Sonia says. "Lead me to the Inn entrance. We shall transport the injured once the rooms are ready."

Naegi and Hagakure lead Sonia to the Inn entrance, where Sonia walks to the right-side hallway opposite of the restaurant, and upon encountering a locked door, shoves it open with a forceful push. Behind the door, the hallway continues with at least eight doors lining either side.

Opening the first door, four beds lay to the side of the entrance, two on each wall, with each having a nightstand in between. At the opposite end of the room was a chair, table, and sofa. Light spills in from a window onto one of the beds against the wall opposite from the entrance. There was another door at the far end, probably leading to a bathroom.

Immediately, a small screen pops up in front of them.

[NOTE: Only members of the {Same Party} may rest with one another! Guests are allowed in the room but attempts at sleeping with members not in the same party are forbidden, and violators will be removed from the room! And be decent, keep it PG-13, kiddos! -Despair King]

"Well...that probably won't be a problem," Naegi says.

A quick glance at the rest of the rooms, and they all look to have the same structure.

"These should be suitable to house the injured," Sonia says.

"Yeah, we should get everyone else," Naegi says.

They head back outside, and with the help of Oowada and Asahina, they start bringing the injured to the Inn.

As Naegi helps Kirigiri towards the Inn, he looks over his shoulder at the gash running over her back and feels something curling in his stomach. He swallows; he felt as though he could have handled the situation better than he had. He also wasn't sure where Fukawa and Togami ran off to, although he's pretty sure they would be able to sort themselves out. He was silently thankful to them for making it so that things didn't turn out as bad as they could have been.

Sighing, he steals a glance at Kirigiri's face. He notices Kirigiri's gaze entrained intensely on something away from him.

What's she looking at? 

He follows her line of sight. Oogami...? He can't exactly tell; he wasn't sure. Why would she be looking at her? Asahina, Oogami, Sayaka, and Ikusaba are heading towards the Inn entrance, there wasn't particularly anything odd about that. Was it her face? Or what Oogami was wearing...?

"Kirigiri-san, what are you looking at?" Naegi asks.

Kirigiri turns to him, her expression inscrutable. "It's nothing. I'd like you to take me to a separate room from the others, if you could," she says.

"Oh! Right, we'd have to do that anyways, we can't mix people from different parties," Naegi says.

"Hmm? Is that so. I'll keep that in mind," Kirigiri says. 

They enter the room on the opposite side of the one that the others had chosen, and Naegi carefully sits Kirigiri down on one of the beds.

"Thank you, Naegi-kun," she says, letting go of him and supporting herself against the bed with an arm. 

She glances about the room, eyes resting on the room's bathroom door for a brief moment. After a pause, she turns back to Naegi, "...Apologies, but could you step out for a moment?"

Naegi blinks. Wait, was she going to change or clean up or something?

"...Oh! Oh!! S-sorry, of course!" Naegi stumbles over his words. He heads towards the entrance to the room in a hurry. 

Kirigiri smiles tenderly at his embarrassment. "I'll let you know when I'm done, it'll be quick," she calls out to his retreating back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Genocider still shares a body with Fukawa V: She'll have to come back when she's done chasing Togami around and put her pants back on. [*cough* her metal plating pants, of course. Per Monokuma, we are PG-13]
> 
> Sonia is now town Mayor. Unfortunately, her sword's gone D:  
> As shown, she's capable of reassigning movement permissions within the town. Characters who were formerly stuck in their respective assigned locations will have more freedom (although her jurisdiction only is within the town). And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Nanami, she shall be liberated. Sonia also can apparently knock doors down (at least ones that are in a building whose main entrance is unlocked).
> 
> They're gonna be winding down for a bit / getting some much needed rest from that fiasco in the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Kirigiri waits for Naegi to close the door (he does so gently, as he would). When she's certain the door is entirely closed, she immediately looks towards the gloves on her hands.

She frowns.

The scar on Oogami's face was missing, she had noticed. A scar like that simply does not disappear. What did that mean? Perhaps her own scars...

She slowly pulls one of her gloves off. Immediately, her face hardens, as the gloves reveal charred, burnt, wrinkled skin covering her hands. She takes off the other glove, and they are exactly the same. Her gut curls despite herself at the sight of her grotesque hands.

When the feeling subsides, she notices that there is something distinctly different about the pattern of disfigurement her hands showed; it was not _quite_ the same as what she had been familiar with. Did her left palm always have such a deep, black crevice running up the middle? What happened to the boiled patch on her right?

She traces over the crevice in her palm with a finger tentatively, a dull, faint feeling of crusted skin on her fingertips, completely devoid of pain, thankfully. Maybe it was caused by the use of her weapon? She was using her right hand primarily, however. 

She flexed her hand a little, and found no real detriment to the dexterity of her hand, and she slipped into deep thought.

Disappointment, that she still bore scars. But also intrigue. Oogami's scars were gone, unlike hers, while her own scars didn't match what she was used to. 

What could that mean? Scars like these don't just disappear or change entirely. 

She had already come to the conclusion that this world they were in didn't follow the same rules as the world they had come from. There were too many oddities, such as a concoction capable of immediately healing wounds, plants she had never seen, and the fact that she could leap several meters in the air, to name a few.

However, she was still uncertain whether their bodies were physical, or whether they were perhaps in a virtual reality of some sort.

If this were a physical world, then during their transition to the world, their bodies may have been altered in the process, either through an automated process, or someone (or something) had manually done so. Why an automated process would remove certain scars but not others was puzzling, however.

If this were a virtual world, then that meant that someone would have had to recreate their bodies in digital form. Whoever had done so had gone through the trouble of attempting to replicate the scars on her own hands, and would therefore be aware of what is under her gloves.

It could be possible that they were able to see what was under her gloves during her brief period of unconsciousness. However, going through the trouble of recreating scars is another matter entirely. What reason could they have for that...?

There wasn't enough information right now, but perhaps the answer to those questions might help lead her to the one responsible for putting all of them in this situation.

....

Dull pain shoots through her body.

_Right, injuries._ She turns and can see the tip of the gash over her shoulder. It was frankly a miracle that the top half of her clothing wasn't sliced clean off (although she wasn't complaining). She also notices that her hip had a dull sensation of pain when she twisted to look at her shoulder.

Wincing, she pulls down the loincloth covering her hip just a tad. A patch of black and blue over her skin on her left hip greets her. She must have bruised it from her rather rough landing when trying to redirect herself after the failed attack on Sonia. 

She sighs.

If this wasn't reality, whoever had created this world chose to simulate some of the more unpleasant physical phenomena of the real world with rather unsettling accuracy.

"K-Kirigiri-san! Are you doing alright?" Naegi's voice comes from the other side of the door.

Kirigiri pulls the loincloth back up in place.

"Yes. You may come back in now, by the way," Kirigiri says.

The door opens a crack, and Naegi's head pokes in, leading by the spike on his hair.

"I brought some clean cloth, we could wrap your injuries. Oowada-kun whacked 'em several times with his book or ... something, I think they help. At least that's what Oogami-san said," Naegi holds out a folded up piece of white, smooth cloth.

Kirigiri smiles at him. "Thank you, Naegi-kun," she takes the cloth in hand.

"I told the others it's worth trying to get some rest, since sleeping in a bed usually helps people recover in, uh, most games I've played. Everyone seems exhausted, even Oowada-kun seems tired," Naegi eyes the gash on Kirigiri's back, and he visibly winces at the reminder of her injury. "Do you need any help? It might be hard to put the cloth on with your injury," Naegi asks, unsure.

Kirigiri raises her gaze to him and eyes him silently.

"O-oh! Sorry, I don't--I might be overstepping--" Naegi pulls back slightly.

Kirigiri closes her eyes and smiles.

"I wouldn't mind the help," Kirigiri says.

***

Her back immediately felt better when the cloth was around the wound; it was like the pain had vanished. However, she could still feel the injury was there. She shifts and sinks the back of her head into the pillow, closing her eyes.

She feels exhausted.

After a brief moment, she opens her eyes, seeing Naegi standing by the door of the room.

"It's fine if you stay here," Kirigiri says.

"W-would that really be okay?" Naegi looks nervous.

"You said so yourself, party members may only sleep with party members. I'm unsure how strict those rules are, but I think you need rest as well," she says.

"Y...yeah, but I--"

"You can use one of the other beds," Kirigiri eyes him with a smirk.

"R-right," Naegi says. He moves to the bed diagonally positioned from hers with a swift, somewhat stilted motion, climbing into the corner farthest away from her.

He was respectful to her space. Maybe a little too much so, but his awkwardness was always something disarmingly endearing, she felt.

"I'm...rather tired. I'll be getting some rest, then. Good night, Naegi-kun," she says, closing her eyes. As she closes her eyes, she allows her exhaustion to envelop her. Almost immediately, she slips into sleep.

Naegi blinks. She was already asleep? But she hadn't even pulled the covers up...! 

He wrestles with himself for a good fifteen minutes, wanting to help, while also not sure if it was the right thing, before he finally decides to get up, pull the covers over her carefully making sure not to disturb her, and settle back in his bed in one quick motion.

She looks much more comfortable now, he thinks. The light streaming in from the window was already a dark, orange tint, indicating the sun was setting. It was kind of beautiful, he thought, as he looked towards the window. It was the first time things felt peaceful since they had been in this whole mess.

He lays his head into the bed, and the moment his head touches the pillow, his exhaustion hits him immediately, and he quickly falls asleep.

***

***

"Lookit all of them, acting like they're having the time of their lives! Useless! Both of 'em!" Monokuma sits on a throne before a screen, fuming.

"I can't believe chef Jumpmeister went and screwed up so royally!" Monokuma clutches a bag of chips (which reads, '100% MAXIMUM CHOLESTEROL'), gradually but effectively turning its contents into crumbs with how hard it was gripping the thing with its stubby paws.

"And the tin can could've won! Just a nice little clean slice would've done any of 'em in! The hell was she thinking!? GAAAH!!" With that, Monokuma hurls the bag into the air, sending crumbs and chip fragments flying into the air like confetti.

Monokuma slouches down on the chair, silent for a moment.

"....Eh. This sucks. The despair is nice 'n all, but this is like shitty diet despair. HEY! Nice timing," Monokuma hops down from its throne, shoving the monitor hanging in the air aside, before pointing at one of two figures who had just approached. "I want YOU to go down and join up with the advance guard! We're gonna give 'em a fantabulous surprise! And make sure you smack 'em good!!"

"...Pardon, I would much prefer to remain at my current station--" the figure begins.

The other figure next to them speaks up. "Ahh, it's alright. I can handle myself. You should help out on the first floor."

The former figure pauses, before speaking. "I-if that is what you desire." The figure turns to Monokuma. "Yes, I will lend my help with the advance guard."

"'Kay. Now get on down there! And you can head back to your station," Monokuma plops back in his chair. As the figures leave, it pulls the monitor back in place. "Upupupupu! They can enjoy things while they can! They won't know what hit 'em!"

***

***

When Naegi wakes up, bright sunlight was streaming in from the window. Stretching, he feels completely refreshed. He blinks, looking towards the bed where Kirigiri was; the cloth that had been wrapped around her wound lay on top of folded bed sheets, and she was already gone.

What time was it now? He wondered how much he had slept. He gets off the bed and leaves the room, and sees Kirigiri in the hallway standing next to Oogami.

"...There was something that concerned me regarding your injury yesterday," Kirigiri is speaking to Oogami, and Naegi notices that the wound on her back is gone. Thank goodness, what a relief...! So sleeping in a bed maybe does heal people in this world; maybe the cloth helped a bit, too.

Kirigiri continues, "have you checked the state of your shoulder? I would suggest you do so."

Oogami looks at Kirigiri, surprised. "Ah, I did obtain a severe injury on this arm, it is worth checking." She pulls up the sleeve of her robe, until the shoulders were revealed. She then gasps.

"What!? This..." Oogami runs a hand over her right shoulder. "...I...used to have...a scar here...."

Kirigiri places a hand on her chin. "Indeed; it seems your bodily scars are missing," she stares up at Oogami's face steadily.

Oogami then runs a hand over her forehead to the bridge of her nose, slowly realizing that the formerly scarred skin was entirely smooth. 

"This is...unsettling."

Kirigiri stays silent; Naegi wasn't sure if he should interrupt.

Oogami continues, "I feel...somewhat bitter, if not disappointed."

"...Hm? How so?" Kirigiri asks.

"It is as if a piece of myself had gone missing. Those scars were an important memory for me," Oogami says.

Kirigiri unconsciously tightens her fist. "...I see." She did not want to pry, but she could understand how Oogami felt. However, the fact that Oogami showed genuine surprise without prompting told her that Oogami knew she was supposed to have scars, and one, was less likely to be an impostor (which was unlikely enough, but worth checking), and two, did not remove the scars herself.

At that moment, Sonia bursts in from the main hallway. 

"Good morning, everyone! Let us all gather in the banquet hall for a meal! Hanamura has prepared something for us. I must say, I am quite starving!" Sonia smiles at the three she finds in the hallway. "Come! Right across the hall! I shall get the others!" She shuffles right past them towards the other doors.

***

Naegi, Kirigiri, and Oogami enter the restaurant area and are greeted by the sight of Oowada and Hagakure in conversation with Maizono and Ikusaba at one of the tables for four. Sitting alone adjacently with her head on the table, fast asleep, was none other than Nanami.

"Nanami-san--!?" Naegi gasps.

Oowada turns around and spots Naegi. "Yo! Naegi, you're up! Grab a seat!"

Naegi considers sitting where Nanami was, but didn't want to disturb her sleep. They end up settling in a separate adjacent table.

"After you guys went to sleep, we went showing Sonia 'round town," Oowada says.

"Sonia-cchi decided to free Nanami-cchi from the shop, and invited her to join us here. I uh, guess she fell asleep at the table," Hagakure says.

"Honestly, I'm a bit worried. She could catch a cold like that," Maizono says. She turns to Naegi, smiling brightly, "Good morning, Naegi-kun! Sorry we had to meet up in such a stressful situation yesterday." She was still clad in samurai armor, although her helmet was off. Notably, her injury looks like it completely healed. There's still a visible crack in her armor where the injury used to be, but otherwise she seems perfectly fine.

Naegi notices Ikusaba glance towards their direction briefly, before looking away. She was usually pretty silent when she wasn't in any sort of strenuous physical situation. Maybe that was as much of a greeting as he was going to get from her. She also looks like she's doing much better today.

Naegi and Kirigiri sit on one side of a table, and Oogami settles on the other. Maizono chirps up, "Oowada-kun was just telling us about what's happened so far. It seems almost all of us came through some kind of cave before coming here. We only just stepped out when Sonia-san found us and started chasing us."

Ikusaba looks up from her lap. "We utilized as many environmental obstacles as we could to delay her pursuit. Closer to the cave, there was rough terrain, which was easier to traverse with lighter protection compared to Sonia-san's heavy armor." 

"When we reached the plains, we saw a sign showing directions to this town." Oogami holds up the steel wand. "At that point, I was able to slow her down by concentrating some type of power through this tool. However, after some time, it no longer worked."

Naegi tilts his head at Oogami. "Is that a wand? That--sounds like...a magic system? " He stands up. "Oogami-san, try it on me. I'm gonna walk to and back from the front counter."

Oogami's eyes widen. "Are you sure?"

"It doesn't hurt me, right? It just slows me down. I think it's a good idea for us to see how it works," he says.

"Well...alright. But it had stopped working yesterday," Oogami says, as she raises the metal wand.

Naegi starts walking towards the counter at a relaxed pace, and Oogami grips the wand, pointing it at him. Suddenly the air around him felt like it suddenly congealed into a thick, suffocating, gelatinous substance. It took everything to put one foot in front of the other; it seemed like his limbs had to fight through sludge to make even the slightest movement. Within a few seconds, the atmosphere lifted.

"...Whoa. That was kind of weird," Naegi turns to Oogami. "But it worked!"

Oogami looks surprised as well. "Hmm. I feel I can concentrate better right now as opposed to yesterday."

The sound of baubles jingling penetrates the air. "What are you buffoons doing?" Togami's voice comes in from the entrance of the restaurant. Behind him, Fukawa stands, staring at the group with a sullen expression. Asahina and Sonia appear from the door behind him as he says the words.

"Oh! Uh, Oogami-san can use magic!" Naegi says, turning around to face Togami. "It's some kind of slowing magic." He puts a fist on his chin. "In games, usually it costs something like mana points to use magic, and if you run out you can't use it anymore. But it looks like maybe getting sleep will restore it...?"

"Whoa! Sakura-chan! You can use MAGIC!? You gotta teach me!" Asahina squeals.

"Heyyy, that sounds cool!" Hagakure says. "Can all of us do it then?"

"Hrm, I'm not sure, it's usually restricted to certain classes," Naegi says. "...Hagakure-kun, if you're the Class Skill Master, wouldn't you be able to tell us if we could use magic?" Naegi asks.

"Oh...yeah, I still gotta figure that out," Hagakure mumbles, turning his gaze down to his lap.

Asahina settles down next to Oogami across from Kirigiri and Naegi, while Togami walks towards a further table, pausing as he passes Nanami, before taking a seat at a separate table. Fukawa follows behind him, and then ends up taking a seat alone, one table away from Togami, facing his back.

Sonia sits across from Nanami, adjusting the paper mat laid out on the table before her. Nanami was resting her head upon one of her own.

"Ahhh, breakfast is served!" Hanamura sings from the kitchen. He dances out from the kitchen balancing a surprising number of plates, hopping by each table and setting one down in front of each person. "Bon appetit~! A hearty spinach, bacon and egg souffle with a refreshing side of fruit and yogurt." 

"Oooh this looks sooo gooood," Asahina stares at the round souffle wrapped in a supportive piece of paper. It's round, like a donut.

Nanami stirs as she wakes up, stretching. "Oh...food. Wow, yeah I'm kind of hungry."

Kirigiri turns to their table. "Right. That reminds me. Sonia-san, earlier, you had mentioned you were starving. Was that a figure of speech? Or did you mean it?"

"Hm? Oh, I was being quite serious! Aren't you hungry?" Sonia asks.

"...Actually, none of us have eaten since we've come here. Some of us not for over three, now four days," Kirigiri says. She turns to the others. "Do any of you actually feel hungry?"

Maizono blinks, and shakes her head. The others also respond similarly. Asahina stares at the souffle. "I don't have to be actually hungry to wanna try this! This looks amazing!"

"What about you, Nanami-san?" Kirigiri asks.

"Huh...? Well, now that you mention it, I felt a little bit hungry once in a while. It just made me tired so I slept. I'm kind of used to skipping meals, sometimes I do it accidentally when I get too into one of the games I'm playing," Nanami says.

Hanamura pops in from the kitchen with another plate. Given all the others already had a plate, this one was presumably for himself. 

"Mayy I join the ladies here~?" Hanamura sidles up next to the table Sonia and Nanami were sitting at.

"It is permitted," Sonia says. 

"Sure," Nanami yawns.

Hanamura rejoices.

"I'm pretty peckish myself I must admit," Hanamura says. "I'm surprised, since I never really felt hungry until this morning."

"That's kind of odd," Naegi says. "I wonder if it's because you're now a town NPC that you're starting to get hungry or something..."

Hanamura turns to Naegi. "Oh right! There's something...that concerns me." His eyes flick between Naegi and Kirigiri. "...Well, multiple things that concern me. But this is one I should probably mention to everyone. When I used the food stocks in the kitchen, it never replenished. I've played a couple cooking games out of curiosity myself, they have infinitely spawning kitchen ingredients, some of them, but this one? No, no. Never came back. Which concerns me."

"What!? M-maybe we shouldn't be eating, then. I don't know if we really need to eat..." Naegi says.

"Oh, don't worry, this is as a thank you for providing me with a wonderful kitchen in the first place. There's still plenty of food for now, enough to last for maybe a week, but perhaps we'll want to find a way to restock, no?"

Nanami was idly chewing on souffle when her head perks up. "...Oh. So that's what those are for." After a pause, she picks up another piece of food with her fork and places it in her mouth, chewing slowly.

"...Uh, what do you mean, Nanami-san?" Naegi asks.

When Nanami finishes swallowing her food, she continues. "When Sonia-san woke me up yesterday, I saw that a bunch of new packet things had appeared on my shop counter as new stock. They looked like seeds. Maybe this place has a farming minigame, those are pretty fun," Nanami says.

"F...farming?" Naegi asks.

"Yeah, that way we can grow our own food. After we finish I can take a look at the instruction book that came with it, I never got a chance to read the whole thing before I came here; I figured I could always look at the details later," Nanami says.

"I thought we are supposed to defeat this 'Despair King'," Kirigiri says.

"I'm pretty sure that's still the final goal. But as they say, if you do all the minigames then you can end up super OP and stomp the final boss," Nanami mutters as she grabs another mouthful. "You might not need everyone to do the farming minigame, you can have some people raiding dungeons, and the other people staying back and helping build up the base of operations in the meantime."

"Farming is peasant work. I will not involve myself in work that is beneath me," Togami scoffs.

"Nobody asked you," Asahina says loudly. Fukawa looks like she really wants to say something.

"In that case, we should probably discuss our next moves and how we wish to split the party," Kirigiri says.

Naegi looks towards Asahina, who is currently stuffing her face with souffle. "Uh, Asahina-san, out of curiosity, what level is everybody now?"

Asahina looks up to everybody. "Oh. Nobody changed since yesterday," she says.

"Wait, what!?" Naegi wasn't sure how that was possible, since Sonia was definitely plenty of levels above them. Maybe because they didn't actually defeat Sonia, it didn't count for gaining EXP...? Naegi sighs.

"Yeah, so Naegi and Kirigiri-chan are the highest with fives. Although...huh. The numbers next to Hanamura and Sonia-chan are gone now." Asahina notes.

"So that...probably means it makes the most sense for Kirigiri-san and me to be in the exploration party. Uhm, Sonia-san, are you able to help us change parties so we can take more people with us?" Naegi asks.

"I...apologies, I am unable to help with that. I do not have those capabilities," Sonia responds.

"Hm...yeah I guess a mayor wouldn't be exactly the same thing as an innkeeper..." Naegi turns to Kirigiri. "I guess it's just us for heading to the castle again, then?"

"Aww, I wanted to get another chance to kick some ass," Asahina says.

"We probably will be able to find the innkeeper soon. In the meantime you guys can hang back and help with the town upkeep. It seems that'll be an important thing. We should probably learn a little about it too before we head out." Naegi says.

"Naegi-kun, Kirigiri-san, be careful! Oowada-kun already told us about how dangerous the castle is," Maizono says.

"Y-yeah, we'll do our best," Naegi rubs the back of his head. He turns to Kirigiri, and smiles. She sees it and returns a subtle one of her own.

"Alright, so for now I think we'll all head to the shop after this so we can figure out this farming stuff, maybe buy some extra things, and then Kirigiri and I will head to Despair Castle," Naegi says.

"Sounds okay to me," Oowada says.

The rest of the group make various gestures of agreement, and resume enjoying the rest of their meal before their next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on skills used:  
> Oogami (Warlock): Slow - A spell that is a type of curse, which reduces movement speed and increases exertion of the subject affected. A higher user level relative to the target can increase its effectiveness, although it has a minimum level of effectiveness if the user's level is equal or lower. The characters haven't really talked about 'exertion' as a mechanic, since the characters essentially experience it intuitively (as physical fatigue), but exertion is similar to stamina systems in games, and governs most physical skills. Exertion will recover relatively quickly with inaction.
> 
> Classes that utilize magic have mana points (often abbreviated as "MP"), which governs their ability to cast spells. Depleting all mana renders them unable to cast spells until mana is restored, and must be restored either through sleeping in an inn, or using items such as "Ethers" that Nanami had mentioned in an earlier chapter (4), which can be purchased in the shop.


	11. Chapter 11

The group follows Nanami towards the shop building. Curiously enough, Nanami was holding one of the table mats that had come from the restaurant. It was made of rather thick paper, and she had been sleeping on it; maybe she liked using it as a pillow or something.

They soon arrive at the shop building.

"Huh, has that always been there?" Naegi asks.

Right beside the shop, a wooden fence surrounded an otherwise plain-looking, wide field of grass, no different than the grass surrounding it aside from being fenced off. The wooden fence was a very barebones arrangement of sticks with a single rope hanging in between them, lining the perimeter of the field.

"Nope, it definitely is new. I noticed it outside of my shop window when Sonia came and woke me up yesterday," Nanami says, before continuing, "I also got some new shipment," and without delay she strolls into the shop.

The group follows in, and there's barely enough space for everyone as Naegi ends up being squeezed by the counter where Nanami could be found behind the counter digging through a stack of wooden boxes, with Asahina, Oowada, and Sonia crowding around the counter. Hagakure stands nearby, curious, unknowingly blocking the way of Hanamura who was trying to get a look above the counter (and was most certainly not there because Asahina and Sonia were also there). Kirigiri hangs a bit farther back from the crowd by Oogami, Maizono, and Ikusaba. Byakuya and Fukawa loitered by the entrance at the top of the stairs leading into the center of the shop.

"Here it is!" Nanami huffs as she plops a little pamphlet onto the counter before her, opened to what appears to be several images of plants.

On it, Naegi sees a curling, white-stemmed vinelike plant depicted. Several red flowers decorate it, along with white, oval bulbs hanging from several vines, looking like little ornaments. Below the image, it appears to deem the name of this foliage, _Egg Plant._ Underneath, it duly notes _5g for 10 seeds_.

"This pamphlet came in with the new item arrivals, and I took a quick look at it yesterday. The egg plant is the most useful plant to grow from what I can tell, and would be a great starter. I ran some quick calculations and this has the highest yield per amount of coin spent, and they give the really good HP regeneration perk," Nanami says. She seems pretty psyched up about this egg plant.

"Huh, I thought eggplants were purple," Naegi scratches his cheek.

"Look closely, there is a space between the word egg and plant! This may be a delightful new type of plant," Sonia says.

"Hey, does that mean those things are eggs?" Asahina points at the white orbs hanging from the plant in the image. "Like...like chicken eggs? The white stems and red flowers kinda make it look like a chicken," Asahina says.

Nanami then turns around to dig through the wooden box again. "I'll start taking out the stock. Feel free to look through the rest of the pamphlet to see if anything else catches your eye."

Asahina grabs the book. "If you can grow eggs here, then...!" She flips through the pamphlet furiously. She stops on a page, gasping.

"Oh. My. GAWD!! This one! We're growing this one too!" She exclaims.

Naegi quickly notices the plant shown on the page, labeled  _Dough Nut Pod_ . 

"The heck? That thing grows donuts?" Oowada stares at the leafy thing on the page, decorated with round things with holes in them that looked unmistakeably like donuts. Naegi thought that the idea of a plant like that existing was ridiculous, but with the track record of this place, he couldn't say he was surprised.

"Oh, those are pretty good. They're a little expensive, but I think they give a really strong Defense boost and have a chance of giving a permanent max HP boost," Nanami says.

Naegi glances at the price.  _20g per 10 seeds_ . "Oh wow, I'm not sure if we can afford that..."

He then hears jingling of coins behind him, and turns to see Hagakure brandishing a sizable sack of coins.  _Oh, right,_ he got that from Sonia.

"I've got 100 gold here! If you need to borrow any, I'd be happy to lend some! It'll just come with a bit of... _interest,_ " Hagakure smirks.

"You're dumb, we should all be sharing it!" Asahina turns around and shoots Hagakure a mean look. He shrinks slightly.

"It would really, really help us, Hagakure-kun!" Maizono chirps up.

"Everything you own is under my jurisdiction," Byakuya calls down from the entrance.

"What!?" Hagakure turns to Byakuya.

"There is no need for interest on what is rightfully mine," Byakuya states.

Hagakure turns to Naegi, and sees that he looks like he's keen on diffusing the situation. "H-help me, Naegi-cchi--" He suddenly pauses at the glare he was getting from Kirigiri, who was standing behind Naegi. She had a really huge axe. He never noticed how big it was until now. Uh oh, she's getting closer and her hand moved, it looks like she's going for the handle of her axe.

"Okay, okay!! Don't worry I'll share it! No interest! Promise!" Hagakure says quickly. He leaves the sack of coin on the counter, and scuffles over to a corner of the shop as far away from Kirigiri as he could get.

(Kirigiri sighs, she was focused on the badge that stood out rather boldly on Hagakure's suit, and was simply trying to get a closer look.)

"Was there anything else that got added to stock?" Naegi asks.

"...Oh, right," Nanami turns and points at an array of octagonal vials with a yellow tint. "We got those. Those are paralysis healing potions...I think. That's everything."

With free reign over a healthy sum of money, the group decides to use about half of it for seed purchases, and save the other half for other supplies. In addition to some egg plant and dough nut seeds, Kirigiri had eyed a plant that turned out to be  _coffee leaf_ that Nanami had agreed "gave extra Agility, which is actually overpowered" but was extremely pricey at 10g for 2 seeds.

Asahina was already carrying the packets dough nut seeds.

"How do we use these?!" she exclaims.

"...Mm...oh yeah, there are a buncha tools that also appeared," Nanami walks toward the back of the store, where there was another door that exited out to where the field was.

***

The group follows (Byakuya and Fukawa routed around from the entrance rather than walking through the shop), and they find Nanami in front of an array of dozens of farming tools: shovels, plows, hoes, watering cans, rakes, scythes, and some things Naegi wasn't familiar with.

Nanami picks up one of several shovels with one hand, and a hoe with another, turning towards the group and raising them both in the air with a sort of vacant bravado. "We strike the earth!"

She pauses. She then lowers the tools.

"...I just felt like saying that. But it seems I can't actually use these tools, maybe you guys can, though," she says.

"I got this!!!" Asahina immediately rushes over to pick up one of the tools. Oogami follows to assist her. Oowada, Naegi, and Kirigiri also go forward to look over the tools. Byakuya simply glowers over the tools with disgust and doesn't move, and Fukawa remains standing near him. Sonia and Hanamura find that, like Nanami, they are unable to actually use the tools, and hang out near the shop with Nanami.

Asahina, Oowada, and Oogami were out on the field by now, tilling the ground with various levels of enthusiasm. Naegi and Kirigiri were soon stepping out to join them.

Maizono notices Ikusaba, who is currently attempting to pick up one of the metal shovels, but was straining to pick it up. She adjusts her grip after a failed attempt, and tries again. The thing refused to move, and she grits her teeth.

"...Ever since coming here, this body feels a lot more useless," Ikusaba lets go of the shovel handle and flexes her hand.

Maizono approaches her. "It's odd, I also feel kind of...'off', too," she says, "although maybe there are other ways you can help! You have a harp, right? That must mean you can use music the same way I somehow can use swords now. Music truly has power to move people! You can feel a sort of energy flowing through you when you're into the music. I have experience, I'm an idol!"

"...Hmph. Sounds impractical," Ikusaba mutters.

"You should give it a try! You haven't even used the harp for anything aside from trying to hit things with it," Maizono says, "you can come up with some lyrics! Maybe a song you sing for us can help us all work faster."

"I...don't know any lyrics," Ikusaba says.

"...Hmm," Maizono thinks. "The most important thing is that the lyrics come from the heart."

Ikusaba tuts. 

"Or...at least, something that you're comfortable with...?" Maizono tries.

"...Hmm." Ikusaba stares at the harp that was leaning against the wall of the shop.

***

As Naegi brought the hoe down into the field, he notices Hagakure lounging by the side of the field closer to the shop. He sighs. Some things never change.

Suddenly, the muffled sound of music reaches his ears. The melody sounded a little haunting, maybe even ominous. He turns to find the source of the sound, and sees the shop building. Was it coming from the shop...? Oh, wait, he could see Ikusaba hiding beside the shop holding her harp. Oh, wow. She was singing, too. But he couldn't quite hear her....

He starts moving towards her when suddenly the field right next to Hagakure appeared to...bulge? Did someone make that mound? Why did it look like it was...growing?

  
  


_**BOOOOOM!** _

  
  


Dirt shoots up from the field in multiple directions right next to Hagakure, followed very quickly by a deafeningly loud explosion. Hagakure, scared out of his mind, runs straight into the shop while screaming incoherently, while most everybody else in the vicinity stares in shock.

"The fucking hell was that!?" Oowada exclaims.

Kirigiri looks toward the explosion, scanning the debris for any sign of shrapnel or evidence of a planted explosive, although none could be found.

As the earth thrown into the air settles, Naegi sees Maizono running forward from behind the building where Ikusaba was (although Ikusaba stayed where she was), and Naegi quickly runs over to her, taking care to go around the spot that had spontaneously exploded. Kirigiri follows after him.

"What happened here?" Kirigiri asks a flustered-looking Maizono.

"I...well, it might be partly my fault. I told Ikusaba-san that she should 'sing from the heart'. And she started singing, which is a good thing! I just couldn't really understand what she was singing about. I heard things like Torpex and Composition B...b-but then, suddenly it..."

Kirigiri sighs. "Those are names of highly volatile substance mixtures. Coming from Ikusaba-san, I would guess she...managed to come up with a song relating to military grade explosives."

Ikusaba looked like she was still hiding behind the shop building.

Naegi turns around to look at the field. 

Now that things had settled, it looked like nobody actually got hurt. And it also seems that with the explosion, she managed to throw up enough dirt to effectively till and prepare a good quarter of the field....

Naegi approaches Ikusaba, with Kirigiri and Maizono behind him. The moment Ikusaba spots Naegi, she immediately looks away and covers her face.

"...I knew this was a mistake," she could be heard muttering.

"Th-that was pretty amazing, Ikusaba-san!" Naegi says. "You did in a few seconds what would have taken all of us maybe an hour to do. I...uh...had no idea you could do that with your music."

"N...neither did I," she responds. She uncovered her face, but still didn't look at him.

"I'd say we could harness this offensively," Kirigiri states.

Ikusaba blinks, looking at Kirigiri. Naegi somehow gets a weird feeling that some sort of unspoken, mutual understanding was happening between the two.

"I'll work on my aim," Ikusaba says, to which Kirigiri nods solemnly. Ikusaba turns to Maizono. "And my lyrics."

Maizono smiles back. She wasn't really sure if she could really help her with the kind of lyrics that Ikusaba was probably thinking of, but she still wanted to lend her support.

***

Naegi runs back to the rest of the group to assure them that everything was fine, and that they could actually just go ahead with planting since Ikusaba had managed to  ~~ explode ~~ till enough of the field for them to use.

They were to plant the seeds by poking a hole in the freshly upturned earth and placing a seed in them, and adding a bit of water.

Asahina gladly did this first; she drew a circle in the dirt around the center where she places a dough nut seed. Not long after she covers the seed, a  _ pop _ sound emits from the buried seed, and a small seedling appears with a small tan bud. Naegi could only assume that was what an immature dough nut looked like. Asahina squeals at the sapling in delight. She repeats this for a few more, before promptly bouncing over to Naegi and Kirigiri.

"Here! You guys should try planting one, too!" she hands a seed to Naegi and Kirigiri.

Kirigiri stares at the seed in her palm. She didn't have to look at the pamphlet to know that this seed bore a plant that was helpful, and fit for consumption. Probably something about the natural environmental knowledge that Naegi had mentioned her class might have come with. Maybe that was also why seeing all the small saplings growing was inexplicitly calming to her.

She puts the seed into the ground, covering it up gently. With another  _ pop _ , a new seedling emerges. It was kind of cute. She hears a pop next to her, just as Naegi finishes planting his.

"WHOA, Naegi! How did you get yours to have SPRINKLES!?" Asahina was staring at the plant Naegi had just planted. The small bulb on the sapling had multicolored little lines that undoubtedly looked like sprinkles sometimes seen on donuts.

Nanami, who was watching from the side, perks up. "Oh...I think you got a rare one. There's a small chance for plants to create a rare version of themselves, they have better special effects. For the dough nuts, this one can give a permanent HP boost when it's mature."

"Huh, well that's kinda cool," Naegi says.

The group proceeds to finish planting several rows of egg plants, dough nuts, and coffee leaves.

"Phew! That's everything," Oowada says.

"That should keep everyone going for a while," Naegi says.

"Good work, peasants," Byakuya has his arms crossed, seated by the shop.

Asahina shoots him a dirty glare.

"Just be sure to water them regularly, and they'll be grown in no time," Nanami says.

"...R, right. That means some of us will be tending to the field here while Kirigiri and I head to Despair Castle," Naegi says.

"No problemo!" Asahina chirps.

"I'd be happy to help keep watch," Oogami says.

"Sure, something to keep us occupied," Oowada says.

"Thanks guys," Naegi says. He turns to Kirigiri. "I guess we should make sure we're prepared."

"Do you still have the return wing, Naegi-kun?" Kirigiri asks.

"Oh! Y-yeah," He pulls out the white feathered pin from his cloak. "I'll uh...keep it somewhere so I can pull it out quickly if we need it."

"Alright. I still have these," Kirigiri pulls out a vial with clear, blue liquid. A 'potion', for healing injuries. She also pulls out three dull gray throwing knives.

"Oh right! We need to dip them again to imbue them with the paralysis stuff. I still have that," he pulls out the honey-colored oil bottle. "...Honestly, I'm surprised all of this stuff is still in one piece after all the crazy things we've been doing."

Nanami appears to almost take offense to hearing that. "Items from the general shop only break when they've been used! If they broke before that, they wouldn't be very reliable. As a rule in RPGs, all items in your inventory are invincible until you use them up!" she says.

"Huh...you know, you're right, when you think about it," Naegi says.

Nanami nods sagely.

"I certainly don't mind this lapse in realism," Kirigiri says. She hands Naegi the knives, and he submerges each into the oil and the blades come back out glowing yellow once more, imbued with the paralysis essence in the oil.

"Do you think we should purchase a paralysis healing potion?" Kirigiri looks towards the shop. "We had a..." Kirigiri clears her throat. "...mishap last time. Apologies for that. It may be prudent to take precautions."

"Oh...yeah, I guess we could get one," Naegi says. They get up and start towards the shop. "Uh, Nanami-san, we'd also like to buy one of the new paralysis heal potions. How much is that?"

"2 coins," Nanami says. "I can go get it for you, then. Anything else?"

"Maybe we should also get another return wing...? So you can have one, Kirigiri-san?" Naegi says.

"Since we can afford it, that sounds prudent," Kirigiri says.

"Alright, so that's 7 coins total. I'll bring the items out for you, you can wait out here," Nanami says.

Nanami heads back into the shop.

Naegi looks back to the field, where Asahina was frolicking over the multiple dough nut seedlings. He then looks towards the forest, where a thin, dark outline of the tower could be seen. They have to move forward if they were going to do anything about their predicament, but it gave him some sense of ease to know they had a temporary place to call their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on skills used this chapter:  
> Mukuro (Bard): "Song of Manifestation" - a song that makes real the contents of the lyrics. Potency is dependent on the user's own affinity to the lyrics, as well as their bard level. Aka Mukuro can now blow things up by singing about military grade explosives, bringing the gang new, innovative explosive live action farming. Can she make guns appear by singing about guns? Not sure about that, but now that's probably on her to-try list.


End file.
